Wishing to describe, somewhat minutely, the trim gardens, the picturesque domains, the rook-haunted groves, the gloomy chambers, and gloomier galleries, of an ancient Hall with which I was acquainted.

"[2] The locations Ainsworth refers to is the home of his cousin's wife in Chesterfield and the ancient hall belonged to a friend who lived in Cuckfield Place, Sussex.

At a manor called Rookwood Place, a legend claims that when a branch of an ancient tree breaks, a death will follow.

At his grandfather's prompting, Bradley abandons his love, a gypsy named Sybil Lovel, to pursue and try to force Mowbray into marriage.

However, Ainsworth did not rely on many of the clichés of gothic fiction, in addition to moving the setting of the story from medieval Europe to contemporary England.

[12] Ainsworth explained this in his preface to Rookwood: "I resolved to attempt a story in the bygone style of Mrs. Radcliffe [...] substituting an old English highwayman, for the Italian marchese, the castle, and the brigand of the great mistress of Romance.

In its use of highwaymen, the novel is similar to works such as John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, Henry Fielding's Jonathan Wild, Friedrich Schiller's play The Robbers, and Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Paul Clifford and Eugene Aram.

This, in addition to use of the fantastic within his gothic style, distances Rookwood from the works of both Sir Walter Scott and Mrs Radcliffe, as the latter two prefer a focus on psychology than external effects.

John Gage of Hengrave, a descendant in his maternal line from Ambrose Rookwood,[18] was Director of the Society of Antiquaries of London from 1829 to 1842.

Gage, also a prominent Catholic, was therefore one of the most distinguished English Antiquaries at the time when Ainsworth published his historical romance of Rookwood in 1834.

When Gage inherited the Rookwood estates in 1838 he assumed for himself the surname 'Rokewode', and he died in 1842 at the Fitzherbert family seat of Claughton Hall in Lancashire.

The character Dick Turpin in the novel Rookwood was based on a real historical person, a highway robber who used pseudonyms to keep the company of gentlemen, and became the legendary type of the English highwayman.

"[24] In terms of classification and judgment, Leo Mason, in 1939, claimed that "Rookwood, Jack Sheppard, and Crichton [...] are historical romances and must take their chances as such.

"[25] Keith Hollingsworth, in his 1963 analysis of the Newgate novels, declared, "Rookwood is a story by Mrs. Radcliffe transplanted [...] ' Substituting' is the accurate word for Ainsworth's process.

The fact that it has now been largely forgotten is in part an indication of the dynamic nature of literary production during this period, the star of 1834–5, Ainsworth, being rapidly eclipsed by Dickens in 1836.

"[29] He continued by pointing out, "Stylistically, Rookwood is a wonderful enthusiastic amalgam: blending gothic with Newgate, historical romance with underworld anti-heroes, 'flash' dialogue and song, all luridly illustrated by George Cruikshank.