It was determined that the deed should be done at the meeting of the parliament at Nottingham.

Here Mortimer appeared with Isabella in royal pomp.

They took their abode at the castle, while the king and other members of the royal family were obliged to content themselves with an inferior place of residence.
"The gates of the castle were locked at sunset, and the keys brought by the constable, Sir William Eland, and handed to the queen herself.

This knight was a loyal and gallant gentleman, and regarded Mortimer with no affection, and when he received the king's commands to assist the barons charged to arrest him he at once agreed to do so.

He was aware of the existence of a subterranean communication leading from the interior of the castle to the outer country, and by this, on the night of the 19th of October, 1330, he led nine resolute knights--the Lords Montague, Suffolk, Stafford, Molins, and Clinton, with three brothers of the name of Bohun, and Sir John Nevil--into the heart of the castle.