I grew up unaware of any Catholic connection with Guy Fawkes - it was all about the attempt to blow up Parliament, an attack on democracy.
The bonfires in Lewes are a different matter, but in Somerset I knew nothing of that.

History lessons in school can be biased in any case. In primary school we were taught a simple version of English history by a socialist - the Roundheads were the goodies and the Cavaliers were the baddies. Then in secondary school the opposite happened, and the Cavaliers were suddenly the goodies, with the Roundheads as the baddies.
I learned not to believe everything I was told.