Secret Chambers and Hiding Places

tecture as the secluded Warwickshire house Compton Winyates. The general impression of its vast complication of gable ends and twisted chimneys is that some enchant

y short time fades away into oblivion! So solitary also is the valley in which the mansion lies and so shut in with thick clustering trees, that one unacquainted with the locality might pass within fifty yards of it over and over again without observing a trace of it. Whe

ds which pervade its countless chimney clusters and curious step-gables. We will be content, however, with the fascinating results, no matter how accomplished, withou

Y HALL

NYATES, WA

her-a "Popish" chapel. From this there are numerous ways of escape, by staircases and passages leading in all directions, for even in the almost impenetrable seclusion of this house the profoundest secrecy was necessary for those who wished to celebrate the rites of the forbid

e barracks," into which it would be possible to pack away a whole regiment of

it was as secure as ever from intrusion. The fugitive had the ready means of isolating himself by removing a large portion of the floor-boards; s

away from everywhere called "the Devil's chamber," and another little chamber whose windo

was found in a wall containing a perfect skeleton!-at another an antique box full of papers belonging to t

ALLERY, COMP

ntrance to a "priest's hole," were removed. This passage led to their bedroom, so that they were protected much in the same way as the fugitive at Compton Winyates, by a yawning gap. Local tradition does not record how many would-be burglars were trapped in this way, but it is certa

See The Fligh

rvices there to this day. Up in the garret is the "priest's hole," ready, it would seem, for some present emergency, so well is it concealed and in such perfect working order; and even when its position is pointed out, nothing is to be seen but the most innocent-

NYATES, WA

ALL, CAMB

H COURT, WO

IOR HALL,

D PRIO

ACE, SALF

ALFORD PRIOR (S

Hall is a typical Elizabethan building. The one which preceded it was burnt to the ground by the adherents of Lady Jane Grey, as the Huddleston of that day, upon the death of K

ty, is found a stone slab containing a circular aperture, something after the manner of our modern urban receptacles for coal. From this hole a tunnel slants downwards at an angle into the adjacent wall, where there is an apartment some twelve feet in depth, and wide enough to contain half a dozen people-that is to say, not bulky ones, for the circular entrance is far

HALL,

is one of those instances where alterations and modern conveniences have destroyed what can never be replaced. The priest, Father John Huddleston (who aided King Charles II. to escape, and

ight. Beneath lies a hollow, seven feet square, where a priest might lie concealed with the gratifying knowledge that, however the ponderous trap-door be hammered from above, there would be no tell-tale hollowness as a response. Having bolted himself in, he might to all intents and purposes be imbedded in a rock (though truly a toad so situated is not always safe from intrusion). Three centuries have rolled away and thirteen sovereigns have reig

opening devised much in the same fashion as that at Oxburgh. By leaning his weight upon a certain portion of the boards, a fugit

ING-PLACE, PARH

not far from "the chapel," and the officiating priest in this instance would withdraw a panel whose position is now occupied by a door; but the entrance to the hiding-plac

our" window. A tradition in the neighbourhood says that the great fish-pond near the site of the old house was dug by

s large enough to hold several persons; there is another large hiding-hole in the ceiling of a room on th

y behind the altar, in which fugitives not only could be hidden but could see anything that transpired in its vicinity. In Chichester Cathedral there is a room called Lollards' Prison, which is approached by a sliding panel in the old consistory-room situated over the south porch. The manor h

LL, S

MANOR HOUSE,

tive could reach a secret passage extending round nearly two sides of the house to a small water-gate by the moat, where a boat was kept in readiness. Adjoining the "banqueting-room" on the

nue, has a priest's hole, a cramped space five feet by two, in which it is necessary to lie down. As at Ingatestone, it i

hapel in the upper part of the house, and a secret chamber, or priest's hole, provided with a diminutive fire-place. When the officiating priest wa

for more than four hundred years), has quite luxurious accommodation-a sleeping-place and a reading-desk. It is called "Pope's Hole."

CLINTON, W

ancashire; and since then one was discovered behind the rafters of the roof. Another ancient house c

to be seen a curious maze of thickly planted evergreens in the shape of a cross. From the fact that at one end remain three wooden

ating with the roof was discovered. It contained some ancient devotional books, and agai

ameter, through which a person could lower himself, if necessary, to the ground floor by the aid of a rope. Here also, beneath the floor-boards of a cupboard in one of the bedrooms, is a concealed chamber with a fixed shelf, presumably provided to act as a sort of table for the unfortunate i