Robert and Thomas Wintour the continent and again failed to elicit Spanish support, but instead met Guy Fawkes, with whom he returned to England. Robert, a devout Catholic who inherited Huddington Court near Worcester, joined the conspiracy the following year. The plot began to unravel following the delivery of an anonymous letter to William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, warning him to stay away from Parliament. Thomas and Catesby confronted Monteagle's brother-in-law, the recently recruited Francis Tresham, threatening to kill him, but Tresham managed to convince them of his innocence. At that stage Thomas reportedly asked Catesby to abandon the scheme, to no avail. When
Ambrose Rookwood daughter of William Tyrwhitt, of Kettleby in Lincolnshire, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Peter Frescheville, of Staveley in Derbyshire. The Tyrwhitts were another prominent Roman Catholic family and his wife was possibly a first cousin to his future fellow conspirator Robert Keyes. The couple had two sons, Robert and Henry. On his father's death in 1600, he inherited Coldham Hall, which subsequently became a refuge for priests. The following year he joined the Earl of Essex's abortive rebellion against the government, for which he was captured and held at Newgate Prison. In August 1605 Rookwood joined the Jesuits