Secret Chambers and Hiding Places written by Allan Fea
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9 [Illustration: MOSELEY HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE]
SECRET CHAMBERS AND HIDING-PLACES
HISTORIC, ROMANTIC, & LEGENDARY STORIES & TRADITIONS ABOUT
HIDING-HOLES, SECRET CHAMBERS, ETC.
BY ALLAN FEA
AUTHOR OF "THE FLIGHT OF THE KING," "KING MONMOUTH," ETC.
WITH EIGHTY ILLUSTRATIONS
THIRD AND REVISED EDITION
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
A GREAT DEVISER OF "PRIEST'S HOLES"
CHAPTER II
HINDLIP HALL
CHAPTER III
PRIEST-HUNTING AT BRADDOCKS
CHAPTER IV
THE GUNPOWDER PLOT CONSPIRATORS
CHAPTER V
HARVINGTON, UFTON, AND INGATESTONE
CHAPTER VI
COMPTON WINYATES, SALFORD PRIOR, SAWSTON, OXBURGH, PARHAM, PAXHILL, ETC.
CHAPTER VII
KING-HUNTING: BOSCOBEL, MOSELEY, TRENT, AND HEALE
CHAPTER VIII
CAVALIER-HUNTING, ETC.
CHAPTER IX
JAMES II.'S ESCAPES
CHAPTER X
JAMES II.'S ESCAPES (_continued_): HAM HOUSE, AND "ABDICATION HOUSE"
CHAPTER XI
MYSTERIOUS ROOMS, DEADLY PITS, ETC.
CHAPTER XII
HIDING-PLACES IN JACOBITE DWELLINGS AND IN SCOTTISH CASTLES AND MANSIONS
CHAPTER XIII
CONCEALED DOORS, SUBTERRANEAN PASSAGES, ETC.
CHAPTER XIV
MINIATURE HIDING-HOLES FOR VALUABLES, ETC.
CHAPTER XV
HIDING-PLACES OF SMUGGLERS AND THIEVES
CHAPTER XVI
THE SCOTTISH HIDING-PLACES OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
MOSELEY HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE
HINDLIP HALL, WORCESTERSHIRE
BRADDOCKS, ESSEX
FIREPLACE AT BRADDOCKS
ASHBY ST. LEDGERS, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
THE PLOT ROOM, ASHBY ST. LEDGERS
HUDDINGTON COURT, WORCESTERSHIRE
ENTRANCE PORCH, HUDDINGTON COURT
ENTRANCE TO "PRIEST'S HOLE," HARVINGTON HALL
HARVINGTON HALL, WORCESTERSHIRE
UFTON COURT, BERKSHIRE
" " GARDEN TERRACE, BERKSHIRE
HIDING-PLACE, UFTON COURT
" " "
INGATESTONE HALL, ESSEX
" " "
"PRIEST'S HOLE," SAWSTON HALL
SCOTNEY CASTLE, SUSSEX
COMPTON WINYATES, WARWICKSHIRE
THE MINSTRELS' GALLERY, COMPTON WINYATES
SAWSTON HALL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE
PICKERSLEIGH COURT, WORCESTERSHIRE
SALFORD PRIOR HALL, WARWICKSHIRE
" " " "
HIDING-PLACE, SALFORD PRIOR
SHOWING ENTRANCE TO HIDING PLACE, SALFORD PRIOR
OXBURGH HALL, NORFOLK
ENTRANCE TO HIDING-PLACE, PARHAM HALL
PAXHILL, SUSSEX
CLEEVE PRIOR MANOR HOUSE, WORCESTERSHIRE
BADDESLEY CLINTON HALL, WARWICKSHIRE
HIDING-PLACE BENEATH "THE CHAPEL," BOSCOBEL, SALOP
HIDING-PLACE IN "THE SQUIRE'S BEDROOM," BOSCOBEL
ENTRANCE TO HIDING-PLACE IN THE GARRET, OR "CHAPEL," BOSCOBEL
SECRET PANEL, TRENT HOUSE, SOMERSETSHIRE
BOSCOBEL
ENTRANCE TO HIDING-PLACE, TRENT HOUSE
HIDING-PLACE, TRENT HOUSE
TRENT HOUSE IN 1864
HEALE HOUSE, WILTSHIRE
MADELEY COURT, SHROPSHIRE
" " THE COURTYARD, SHROPSHIRE
" " SHROPSHIRE
ENTRANCE TO "PRIEST'S HOLE," THE UPPER HOUSE, MADELEY, SHROPSHIRE
INTERIOR OF "PRIEST'S HOLE," MOSELEY HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE
SECRET PANEL AT SALISBURY
SECRET CHAMBER, CHASTLETON, OXFORDSHIRE
OLD SUMMER HOUSE, SALISBURY
CHASTLETON, OXFORDSHIRE
" FRONT ENTRANCE, OXFORDSHIRE
BROUGHTON HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE
ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL, WARWICK
STAIRCASE, BROUGHTON HALL
SHIPTON COURT, OXFORDSHIRE
BROUGHTON CASTLE, OXFORDSHIRE
ENTRANCE GATE, BRADSHAWE HALL, DERBYSHIRE
MOYLES COURT, HAMPSHIRE
TODDINGTON MANOR HOUSE, BEDFORDSHIRE, IN 1806
"RAT'S CASTLE," ELMLEY
KING'S HILL FARM, ELMLEY, KENT
ENTRANCE TO SECRET PASSAGE, "ABDICATION HOUSE," ROCHESTER
"ABDICATION HOUSE," ROCHESTER
MONUMENT OF SIR RICHARD HEAD
"RESTORATION HOUSE," ROCHESTER
ARMSCOT MANOR HOUSE, WORCHESTERSHIRE
ENTRANCE GATE, ARMSCOT MANOR HOUSE
WOODSTOCK PALACE, OXFORDSHIRE
MARKYATE CELL, HERTFORDSHIRE
BIRTSMORTON COURT, WORCESTERSHIRE
PORCH AT CHELVEY COURT, SOMERSETSHIRE
HURSTMONCEAUX CASTLE, SUSSEX
BOVEY HOUSE, SOUTH DEVON
MAPLEDURHAM HOUSE, OXFORDSHIRE
" " "
ENTRANCE TO SECRET STAIRCASE, PARTINGDALE HOUSE, MILL HILL, MIDDLESEX
INTRODUCTION
The secret chamber is unrivalled even by the haunted house for
the mystery and romance surrounding it. Volumes have been written
about the haunted house, while the secret chamber has found but
few exponents. The ancestral ghost has had his day, and to all
intents and purposes is dead, notwithstanding the existence of
the Psychical Society and the investigations of Mr. Stead and
the late Lord Bute. "Alas! poor ghost!" he is treated with scorn
and derision by the multitude in these advanced days of modern
enlightenment. The search-light of science has penetrated even
into his sacred haunts, until, no longer having a leg to stand
upon, he has fallen from the exalted position he occupied for
centuries, and fallen moreover into ridicule!
In the secret chamber, however, we have something tangible to deal
with--a subject not only keenly interesting from an antiquarian
point of view, but one deserving the attention of the general
reader; for in exploring the gloomy hiding-holes, concealed
apartments, passages, and staircases in our old halls and manor
houses we probe, as it were, into the very groundwork of romance.
We find actuality to support the weird and mysterious stories
of fiction, which those of us who are honest enough to admit
a lingering love of the marvellous must now doubly appreciate,
from the fact that our school-day impressions of such things
are not only revived, but are strengthened with the semblance
of truth. Truly Bishop Copleston wrote: "If the things we hear
told be avowedly fictitious, and yet curious or affecting or
entertaining, we may indeed admire the author of the fiction, and
may take pleasure in contemplating the exercise of his skill. But
this is a pleasure of another kind--a pleasure wholly distinct from
that which is derived from discovering what was _unknown_, or
clearing up what was _doubtful_. And even when the narrative
is in its own nature, such as to please us and to engage our
attention, how, greatly is the interest increased if we place
entire confidence in its _truth_! Who has not heard from
a child when listening to a tale of deep interest--who has not
often heard the artless and eager question, 'Is it true?'"
From Horace Walpole, Mrs. Radcliffe, Scott, Victor Hugo, Dumas,
Lytton, Ainsworth, Le Fanu, and Mrs. Henry Wood, down to the
latest up-to-date novelists of to-day, the secret chamber (an
ingenious _necessity_ of the "good old times") has afforded
invaluable "property"--indeed, in many instances the whole vitality
of a plot is, like its ingenious opening, hinged upon the masked
wall, behind which lay concealed what hidden mysteries, what
undreamed-of revelations! The thread of the story, like Fair
Rosamond's silken clue, leads up to and at length reveals the
buried secret, and (unlike the above comparison in this instance)
all ends happily!
Bulwer Lytton honestly confesses that the spirit of romance in his
novels "was greatly due to their having been written at my ancestral
home, Knebworth, Herts. How could I help writing romances," he
says, "after living amongst the secret panels and hiding-places
of our dear old home? How often have I trembled with fear at
the sound of my own footsteps when I ventured into the picture
gallery! How fearfully have I glanced at the faces of my ancestors
as I peered into the shadowy abysses of the 'secret chamber.' It
was years before I could venture inside without my hair literally
bristling with terror."
What would _Woodstock_ be without the mysterious picture,
_Peveril of the Peak_ without the sliding panel, the Castlewood
of _Esmond_ without Father Holt's concealed apartments,
_Ninety-Three, Marguerite de Valois, The Tower of London, Guy
Fawkes_, and countless other novels of the same type, without
the convenient contrivances of which the _dramatis personae_
make such effectual use?
Apart, however, from the importance of the secret chamber in
fiction, it is closely associated with many an important historical
event. The stories of the Gunpowder Plot, Charles II.'s escape
from Worcester, the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745, and many
another stirring episode in the annals of our country, speak
of the service it rendered to fugitives in the last extremity
of danger. When we inspect the actual walls of these confined
spaces that saved the lives of our ancestors, how vividly we can
realise the hardships they must have endured; and in wondering
at the mingled ingenuity and simplicity of construction, there
is also a certain amount of comfort to be derived from drawing
a comparison between those troublous and our own more peaceful
times.
SECRET CHAMBERS AND HIDING-PLACES
CHAPTER I
A GREAT DEVISER OF "PRIEST'S HOLES"
During the deadly feuds which existed in the Middle Ages, when
no man was secure from spies and traitors even within the walls
of his own house, it is no matter of wonder that the castles and
mansions of the powerful and wealthy were usually provided with
some precaution in the event of a sudden surprise--_viz._
a secret means of concealment or escape that could be used at
a moment's notice; but the majority of secret chambers and
hiding-places in our ancient buildings owe their origin to religious
persecution, particularly during the reign of Elizabeth, when the
most stringent laws and oppressive burdens were inflicted upon
all persons who professed the tenets of the Church of Rome.
In the first years of the virgin Queen's reign all who clung to
the older forms of the Catholic faith were mercifully connived
at, so long as they solemnised their own religious rites within
their private dwelling-houses; but after the Roman Catholic rising
in the north and numerous other Popish plots, the utmost severity
of the law was enforced, particularly against seminarists, whose
chief object was, as was generally believed, to stir up their
disciples in England against the Protestant Queen. An Act was
passed prohibiting a member of the Church of Rome from celebrating
the rites of his religion on pain of forfeiture for the first
offence, a year's imprisonment for the second, and imprisonment
for life for the third.[1] All those who refused to take the
Oath of Supremacy were called "recusants" and were guilty of
high treason. A law was also enacted which provided that if any
Papist should convert a Protestant to the Church of Rome, both
should suffer death, as for high treason.
[Footnote 1: In December, 1591, a priest was hanged before the
door of a house in Gray's Inn Fields for having there said Mass
the month previously.]
The sanguinary laws against seminary priests and "recusants"
were enforced with the greatest severity after the discovery of
the Gunpowder Plot. These were revived for a period in Charles
II.'s reign, when Oates's plot worked up a fanatical hatred against
all professors of the ancient faith. In the mansions of the old
Roman Catholic families we often find an apartment in a secluded
part of the house or garret in the roof named "the chapel," where
religious rites could be performed with the utmost privacy, and
close handy was usually an artfully contrived hiding-place, not
only for the officiating priest to slip into in case of emergency,
but also where the vestments, sacred vessels, and altar furniture
could be put away at a moment's notice.
It appears from the writings of Father Tanner[1] that most of
the hiding-places for priests, usually called "priests' holes,"
were invented and constructed by the Jesuit Nicholas Owen, a
servant of Father Garnet, who devoted the greater part of his
life to constructing these places in the principal Roman Catholic
houses all over England.
[Footnote 1: _Vita et Mors_ (1675), p. 75.]
"With incomparable skill," says an authority, "he knew how to
conduct priests to a place of safety along subterranean passages,
to hide them between walls and bury them in impenetrable recesses,
and to entangle them in labyrinths and a thousand windings. But
what was much more difficult of accomplishment, he so disguised
the entrances to these as to make them most unlike what they
really were. Moreover, he kept these places so close a secret
with himself that he would never disclose to another the place
of concealment of any Catholic. He alone was both their architect
and their builder, working at them with inexhaustible industry
and labour, for generally the thickest walls had to be broken
into and large stones excavated, requiring stronger arms than
were attached to a body so diminutive as to give him the nickname
of 'Little John,' and by this his skill many priests were preserved
from the prey of persecutors. Nor is it easy to find anyone who
had not often been indebted for his life to Owen's hiding-places."
How effectually "Little John's" peculiar ingenuity baffled the
exhaustive searches of the "pursuivants," or priest-hunters,
has been shown by contemporary accounts of the searches that
took place frequently in suspected houses. Father Gerard, in
his Autobiography, has handed down to us many curious details of
the mode of procedure upon these occasions--how the search-party
would bring with them skilled carpenters and masons and try every
possible expedient, from systematic measurements and soundings to
bodily tearing down the panelling and pulling up the floors. It
was not an uncommon thing for a rigid search to last a fortnight
and for the "pursuivants" to go away empty handed, while perhaps
the object of the search was hidden the whole time within a wall's
thickness of his pursuers, half starved, cramped and sore with
prolonged confinement, and almost afraid to breathe, lest the
least sound should throw suspicion upon the particular spot where
he lay immured.
After the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, "Little John" and
his master, Father Garnet, were arrested at Hindlip Hall,
Worcestershire, from information given to the Government by Catesby's
servant Bates. Cecil, who was well aware of Owen's skill in
constructing hiding-places, wrote exultingly: "Great joy was
caused all through the kingdom by the arrest of Owen, knowing
his skill in constructing hiding-places, and the innumerable
number of these dark holes which he had schemed for hiding priests
throughout the kingdom." He hoped that "great booty of priests"
might be taken in consequence of the secrets Owen would be made
to reveal, and directed that first he should "be coaxed if he
be willing to contract for his life," but that "the secret is
to be wrung from him." The horrors of the rack, however, failed
in its purpose. His terrible death is thus briefly recorded by
the Governor of the Tower at that time: "The man is dead--he
died in our hands"; and perhaps it is as well the ghastly details
did not transpire in his report.
The curious old mansion Hindlip Hall (pulled down in the early
part of the last century) was erected in 1572 by John Abingdon, or
Habington, whose son Thomas (the brother-in-law of Lord Monteagle)
was deeply involved in the numerous plots against the reformed
religion. A long imprisonment in the Tower for his futile efforts
to set Mary Queen of Scots at liberty, far from curing the dangerous
schemes of this zealous partisan of the luckless Stuart heroine,
only kept him out of mischief for a time. No sooner had he obtained
his freedom than he set his mind to work to turn his house in
Worcestershire into a harbour of refuge for the followers of
the older rites. In the quaint irregularities of the masonry
free scope was given to "Little John's" ingenuity; indeed, there
is every proof that some of his masterpieces were constructed
here. A few years before the "Powder Plot" was discovered, it
was a hanging matter for a priest to be caught celebrating the
Mass. Yet with the facilities at Hindlip he might do so with
comfort, with every assurance that he had the means of evading
the law. The walls of the mansion were literally riddled with
secret chambers and passages. There was little fear of being
run to earth with hidden exits everywhere. Wainscoting, solid
brickwork, or stone hearth were equally accommodating, and would
swallow up fugitives wholesale, and close over them, to "Open,
Sesame!" again only at the hider's pleasure.
CHAPTER II
HINDLIP HALL
The capture of Father Garnet and "Little John" with two others,
Hall and Chambers, at Hindlip, as detailed in a curious manuscript
in the British Museum, gives us an insight into the search-proof
merits of Abingdon's mansion. The document is headed: "_A true
discovery of the service performed at Hindlip, the house of Mr.
Thomas Abbingdon, for the apprehension of Mr. Henry Garnet, alias
Wolley, provincial of the Jesuits, and other dangerous persons,
there found in January last,_ 1605," and runs on:--
"After the king's royal promise of bountiful reward to such as
would apprehend the traitors concerned in the Powder Conspiracy,
and much expectation of subject-like duty, but no return made
thereof in so important a matter, a warrant was directed to the
right worthy and worshipful knight, Sir Henry Bromlie; and the
proclamation delivered therewith, describing the features and
shapes of the men, for the better discovering them. He, not
neglecting so a weighty a business, horsing himself with a seemly
troop of his own attendants, and calling to his assistance so
many as in discretion was thought meet, having likewise in his
company Sir Edward Bromlie, on Monday, Jan. 20 last, by break
of day, did engirt and round beat the house of Mayster Thomas
Abbingdon, at Hindlip, near Worcester. Mr. Abbingdon, not being
then at home, but ridden abroad about some occasions best known
to himself; the house being goodlie, and of great receipt, it
required the more diligent labour and pains in the searching.
It appeared there was no want; and Mr. Abbingdon himself coming
home that night, the commission and proclamation being shown unto
him, he denied any such men to be in his house, and voluntarily
to die at his own gate, if any such were to be found in his house,
or in that shire. But this liberal or rather rash speech could
not cause the search so slightly to be given over; the cause
enforced more respect than words of that or any such like nature;
and proceeding on according to the trust reposed in him in the
gallery over the gate there were found two cunning and very
artificial conveyances in the main brick-wall, so ingeniously
framed, and with such art, as it cost much labour ere they could
be found. Three other secret places, contrived by no less skill
and industry, were found in and about the chimneys, in one whereof
two of the traitors were close concealed. These chimney-conveyances
being so strangely formed, having the entrances into them so
curiously covered over with brick, mortared and made fast to
planks of wood, and coloured black, like the other parts of the
chimney, that very diligent inquisition might well have passed
by, without throwing the least suspicion upon such unsuspicious
places. And whereas divers funnels are usually made to chimneys
according as they are combined together, and serve for necessary
use in several rooms, so here were some that exceeded common
expectation, seeming outwardly fit for carrying forth smoke;
but being further examined and seen into, their service was to
no such purpose but only to lend air and light downward into
the concealments, where such as were concealed in them, at any
time should be hidden. Eleven secret corners and conveyances
were found in the said house, all of them having books, Massing
stuff, and Popish trumpery in them, only two excepted, which
appeared to have been found on former searches, and therefore
had now the less credit given to them; but Mayster Abbingdon
would take no knowledge of any of these places, nor that the
books, or Massing stuff, were any of his, until at length the
deeds of his lands being found in one of them, whose custody
doubtless he would not commit to any place of neglect, or where
he should have no intelligence of them, whereto he could [not]
then devise any sufficient excuse.
[Illustration: HINDLIP HALL, WORCESTERSHIRE]
Three days had been wholly spent, and no man found there all
this while; but upon the fourth day, in the morning, from behind
the wainscot in the galleries, came forth two men of their own
voluntary accord, as being no longer able there to conceal
themselves; for they confessed that they had but one apple between
them, which was all the sustenance they had received during the
time they were thus hidden. One of them was named Owen, who
afterwards murdered himself in the Tower; and the other Chambers;
but they would take no other knowledge of any other men's being
in the house. On the eighth day the before-mentioned place in
the chimney was found, according as they had all been at several
times, one after another, though before set down together, for
expressing the just number of them.
"Forth of this secret and most cunning conveyance came Henry
Garnet, the Jesuit, sought for, and another with him, named Hall;
marmalade and other sweetmeats were found there lying by them;
but their better maintenance had been by a quill or reed, through
a little hole in the chimney that backed another chimney into
the gentlewoman's chamber; and by that passage candles, broths,
and warm drinks had been conveyed in unto them.
"Now in regard the place was in so close... and did much annoy
them that made entrance in upon them, to whom they confessed
that they had not been able to hold out one whole day longer,
but either they must have squeeled, or perished in the place.
The whole service endured the space of eleven nights and twelve
days, and no more persons being there found, in company with
Mayster Abbingdon himself, Garnet, Hill [Hall], Owen, and Chambers,
were brought up to London to understand further of his highness's
pleasure."
That the Government had good grounds for suspecting Hindlip and
its numerous hiding-places may be gathered from the official
instructions the Worcestershire Justice of the Peace and his
search-party had to follow. The wainscoting in the east part of
the parlour and in the dining-room, being suspected of screening
"a vault" or passage, was to be removed, the walls and floors
were to be pierced in all directions, comparative measurements
were to be taken between the upper and the lower rooms, and in
particular the chimneys, and the roof had to be minutely examined and
measurements taken, which might bring to light some unaccounted-for
space that had been turned to good account by the unfortunate
inventor, who was eventually starved out of one of his clever
contrivances.
Only shortly before Owen had had a very narrow escape at Stoke
Poges while engaged in constructing "priests' holes" at the Manor
House. The secluded position of this building adapted it for
the purpose for which a Roman Catholic zealot had taken it. But
this was not the only advantage. The walls were of vast thickness
and offered every facility for turning them to account. While
"Little John" was busily engaged burrowing into the masonry the
dreaded "pursuivants" arrived; but somehow or other he slipped
between their fingers and got away under cover of the surrounding
woods.
The wing of this old mansion which has survived to see the twentieth
century witnessed many strange events. It has welcomed good Queen
Bess, guarded the Martyr King, and refused admittance to Dutch
William. A couple of centuries after it had sheltered hunted
Jesuits, a descendant of William Penn became possessed of it,
and cleared away many of the massive walls, in some of which--who
can tell?--were locked up secrets that the rack failed to
reveal--secrets by which Owen "murdered himself" in the Tower!
One of the hiding-places at Hindlip, it will be remembered, could
be supplied with broth, wine, or any liquid nourishment through
a small aperture in the wall of the adjoining room. A very good
example of such an arrangement may still be seen at Irnham Hall, in
Lincolnshire.[1] A large hiding-place could thus be accommodated,
but detection of the narrow iron tube by which the imprisoned
fugitive could be kept alive was practically impossible. A solid
oak beam, forming a step between two bedrooms, concealed a panel
into which the tube was cunningly fitted and the step was so
arranged that it could be removed and replaced with the greatest
ease.[2]
[Footnote 1: The fire which destroyed a wing of Irnham Hall a
few years ago fortunately did not touch that part of the building
containing a hiding-place.]
[Footnote 2: Harvington Hall, mentioned hereafter, has a contrivance
of this kind.]
The hiding-place at Irnham (which measures eight feet by five,
and about five feet six inches in height) was discovered by a
tell-tale chimney that was not in the least blackened by soot
or smoke. This originally gave the clue to the secret, and when
the shaft of the chimney was examined, it was found to lead direct
to the priest's hole, to which it afforded air and light.
Had not the particular hiding-place in which Garnet and his
companions sought shelter been discovered, they could well have
held out the twelve days' search. As a rule, a small stock of
provisions was kept in these places, as the visits of the search
parties were necessarily very sudden and unexpected. The way down
into these hidden quarters was from the floor above, through
the hearth of a fireplace, which could be raised an lowered like
a trap-door.[1]
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