[Illustration: MOSELEY HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE] SECRET CHAMBERS AND HIDING-PLACES HISTORIC, ROMANTIC, & LEGENDARY STORIES & TRADITIONS ABOUTHIDING-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, STAFFORDSHIREHINDLIP HALL, WORCESTERSHIREBRADDOCKS, ESSEXFIREPLACE AT BRADDOCKSASHBY ST. LEDGERS, NORTHAMPTONSHIRETHE PLOT ROOM, ASHBY ST. LEDGERSHUDDINGTON COURT, WORCESTERSHIREENTRANCE PORCH, HUDDINGTON COURTENTRANCE TO "PRIEST'S HOLE, " HARVINGTON HALLHARVINGTON HALL, WORCESTERSHIREUFTON COURT, BERKSHIRE " " GARDEN TERRACE, BERKSHIREHIDING-PLACE, UFTON COURT " " "INGATESTONE HALL, ESSEX " " ""PRIEST'S HOLE, " SAWSTON HALLSCOTNEY CASTLE, SUSSEXCOMPTON WINYATES, WARWICKSHIRETHE MINSTRELS' GALLERY, COMPTON WINYATESSAWSTON HALL, CAMBRIDGESHIREPICKERSLEIGH COURT, WORCESTERSHIRESALFORD PRIOR HALL, WARWICKSHIRE " " " "HIDING-PLACE, SALFORD PRIORSHOWING ENTRANCE TO HIDING PLACE, SALFORD PRIOROXBURGH HALL, NORFOLKENTRANCE TO HIDING-PLACE, PARHAM HALLPAXHILL, SUSSEXCLEEVE PRIOR MANOR HOUSE, WORCESTERSHIREBADDESLEY CLINTON HALL, WARWICKSHIREHIDING-PLACE BENEATH "THE CHAPEL, " BOSCOBEL, SALOPHIDING-PLACE IN "THE SQUIRE'S BEDROOM, " BOSCOBELENTRANCE TO HIDING-PLACE IN THE GARRET, OR "CHAPEL, " BOSCOBELSECRET PANEL, TRENT HOUSE, SOMERSETSHIREBOSCOBELENTRANCE TO HIDING-PLACE, TRENT HOUSEHIDING-PLACE, TRENT HOUSETRENT HOUSE IN 1864HEALE HOUSE, WILTSHIREMADELEY COURT, SHROPSHIRE " " THE COURTYARD, SHROPSHIRE " " SHROPSHIREENTRANCE TO "PRIEST'S HOLE, " THE UPPER HOUSE, MADELEY, SHROPSHIREINTERIOR OF "PRIEST'S HOLE, " MOSELEY HALL, STAFFORDSHIRESECRET PANEL AT SALISBURYSECRET CHAMBER, CHASTLETON, OXFORDSHIREOLD SUMMER HOUSE, SALISBURYCHASTLETON, OXFORDSHIRE " FRONT ENTRANCE, OXFORDSHIREBROUGHTON HALL, STAFFORDSHIREST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL, WARWICKSTAIRCASE, BROUGHTON HALLSHIPTON COURT, OXFORDSHIREBROUGHTON CASTLE, OXFORDSHIREENTRANCE GATE, BRADSHAWE HALL, DERBYSHIREMOYLES COURT, HAMPSHIRETODDINGTON MANOR HOUSE, BEDFORDSHIRE, IN 1806"RAT'S CASTLE, " ELMLEYKING'S HILL FARM, ELMLEY, KENTENTRANCE TO SECRET PASSAGE, "ABDICATION HOUSE, " ROCHESTER"ABDICATION HOUSE, " ROCHESTERMONUMENT OF SIR RICHARD HEAD"RESTORATION HOUSE, " ROCHESTERARMSCOT MANOR HOUSE, WORCHESTERSHIREENTRANCE GATE, ARMSCOT MANOR HOUSEWOODSTOCK PALACE, OXFORDSHIREMARKYATE CELL, HERTFORDSHIREBIRTSMORTON COURT, WORCESTERSHIREPORCH AT CHELVEY COURT, SOMERSETSHIREHURSTMONCEAUX CASTLE, SUSSEXBOVEY HOUSE, SOUTH DEVONMAPLEDURHAM HOUSE, OXFORDSHIRE " " "ENTRANCE TO SECRET STAIRCASE, PARTINGDALE HOUSE, MILL HILL, MIDDLESEX INTRODUCTION The secret chamber is unrivalled even by the haunted house forthe mystery and romance surrounding it. Volumes have been writtenabout the haunted house, while the secret chamber has found butfew exponents. The ancestral ghost has had his day, and to allintents and purposes is dead, notwithstanding the existence ofthe Psychical Society and the investigations of Mr. Stead andthe late Lord Bute. "Alas! poor ghost!" he is treated with scornand derision by the multitude in these advanced days of modernenlightenment. The search-light of science has penetrated eveninto his sacred haunts, until, no longer having a leg to standupon, he has fallen from the exalted position he occupied forcenturies, and fallen moreover into ridicule! In the secret chamber, however, we have something tangible to dealwith--a subject not only keenly interesting from an antiquarianpoint of view, but one deserving the attention of the generalreader; for in exploring the gloomy hiding-holes, concealedapartments, passages, and staircases in our old halls and manorhouses we probe, as it were, into the very groundwork of romance. We find actuality to support the weird and mysterious storiesof fiction, which those of us who are honest enough to admita lingering love of the marvellous must now doubly appreciate, from the fact that our school-day impressions of such thingsare not only revived, but are strengthened with the semblanceof truth. Truly Bishop Copleston wrote: "If the things we heartold be avowedly fictitious, and yet curious or affecting orentertaining, we may indeed admire the author of the fiction, andmay take pleasure in contemplating the exercise of his skill. Butthis is a pleasure of another kind--a pleasure wholly distinct fromthat which is derived from discovering what was _unknown_, orclearing up what was _doubtful_. And even when the narrativeis in its own nature, such as to please us and to engage ourattention, how, greatly is the interest increased if we placeentire confidence in its _truth_! Who has not heard froma child when listening to a tale of deep interest--who has notoften 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 thelatest up-to-date novelists of to-day, the secret chamber (aningenious _necessity_ of the "good old times") has affordedinvaluable "property"--indeed, in many instances the whole vitalityof a plot is, like its ingenious opening, hinged upon the maskedwall, behind which lay concealed what hidden mysteries, whatundreamed-of revelations! The thread of the story, like FairRosamond's silken clue, leads up to and at length reveals theburied secret, and (unlike the above comparison in this instance)all ends happily! Bulwer Lytton honestly confesses that the spirit of romance in hisnovels "was greatly due to their having been written at my ancestralhome, Knebworth, Herts. How could I help writing romances, " hesays, "after living amongst the secret panels and hiding-placesof our dear old home? How often have I trembled with fear atthe sound of my own footsteps when I ventured into the picturegallery! How fearfully have I glanced at the faces of my ancestorsas I peered into the shadowy abysses of the 'secret chamber. ' Itwas years before I could venture inside without my hair literallybristling with terror. " What would _Woodstock_ be without the mysterious picture, _Peveril of the Peak_ without the sliding panel, the Castlewoodof _Esmond_ without Father Holt's concealed apartments, _Ninety-Three, Marguerite de Valois, The Tower of London, GuyFawkes_, and countless other novels of the same type, withoutthe convenient contrivances of which the _dramatis personæ_make such effectual use? Apart, however, from the importance of the secret chamber infiction, it is closely associated with many an important historicalevent. The stories of the Gunpowder Plot, Charles II. 's escapefrom Worcester, the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745, and manyanother stirring episode in the annals of our country, speakof the service it rendered to fugitives in the last extremityof danger. When we inspect the actual walls of these confinedspaces that saved the lives of our ancestors, how vividly we canrealise the hardships they must have endured; and in wonderingat the mingled ingenuity and simplicity of construction, thereis also a certain amount of comfort to be derived from drawinga comparison between those troublous and our own more peacefultimes. SECRET CHAMBERS AND HIDING-PLACES CHAPTER I A GREAT DEVISER OF "PRIEST'S HOLES" During the deadly feuds which existed in the Middle Ages, whenno man was secure from spies and traitors even within the wallsof his own house, it is no matter of wonder that the castles andmansions of the powerful and wealthy were usually provided withsome precaution in the event of a sudden surprise--_viz. _a secret means of concealment or escape that could be used ata moment's notice; but the majority of secret chambers andhiding-places in our ancient buildings owe their origin to religiouspersecution, particularly during the reign of Elizabeth, when themost stringent laws and oppressive burdens were inflicted uponall persons who professed the tenets of the Church of Rome. In the first years of the virgin Queen's reign all who clung tothe older forms of the Catholic faith were mercifully connivedat, so long as they solemnised their own religious rites withintheir private dwelling-houses; but after the Roman Catholic risingin the north and numerous other Popish plots, the utmost severityof the law was enforced, particularly against seminarists, whosechief object was, as was generally believed, to stir up theirdisciples in England against the Protestant Queen. An Act waspassed prohibiting a member of the Church of Rome from celebratingthe rites of his religion on pain of forfeiture for the firstoffence, a year's imprisonment for the second, and imprisonmentfor life for the third. [1] All those who refused to take theOath of Supremacy were called "recusants" and were guilty ofhigh treason. A law was also enacted which provided that if anyPapist should convert a Protestant to the Church of Rome, bothshould suffer death, as for high treason. [Footnote 1: In December, 1591, a priest was hanged before thedoor of a house in Gray's Inn Fields for having there said Massthe month previously. ] The sanguinary laws against seminary priests and "recusants"were enforced with the greatest severity after the discovery ofthe Gunpowder Plot. These were revived for a period in CharlesII. 's reign, when Oates's plot worked up a fanatical hatred againstall professors of the ancient faith. In the mansions of the oldRoman Catholic families we often find an apartment in a secludedpart of the house or garret in the roof named "the chapel, " wherereligious rites could be performed with the utmost privacy, andclose handy was usually an artfully contrived hiding-place, notonly for the officiating priest to slip into in case of emergency, but also where the vestments, sacred vessels, and altar furniturecould be put away at a moment's notice. It appears from the writings of Father Tanner[1] that most ofthe hiding-places for priests, usually called "priests' holes, "were invented and constructed by the Jesuit Nicholas Owen, aservant of Father Garnet, who devoted the greater part of hislife to constructing these places in the principal Roman Catholichouses all over England. [Footnote 1: _Vita et Mors_ (1675), p. 75. ] "With incomparable skill, " says an authority, "he knew how toconduct 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. Butwhat was much more difficult of accomplishment, he so disguisedthe entrances to these as to make them most unlike what theyreally were. Moreover, he kept these places so close a secretwith himself that he would never disclose to another the placeof concealment of any Catholic. He alone was both their architectand their builder, working at them with inexhaustible industryand labour, for generally the thickest walls had to be brokeninto and large stones excavated, requiring stronger arms thanwere attached to a body so diminutive as to give him the nicknameof 'Little John, ' and by this his skill many priests were preservedfrom the prey of persecutors. Nor is it easy to find anyone whohad not often been indebted for his life to Owen's hiding-places. " How effectually "Little John's" peculiar ingenuity baffled theexhaustive searches of the "pursuivants, " or priest-hunters, has been shown by contemporary accounts of the searches thattook place frequently in suspected houses. Father Gerard, inhis Autobiography, has handed down to us many curious details ofthe mode of procedure upon these occasions--how the search-partywould bring with them skilled carpenters and masons and try everypossible expedient, from systematic measurements and soundings tobodily tearing down the panelling and pulling up the floors. Itwas not an uncommon thing for a rigid search to last a fortnightand for the "pursuivants" to go away empty handed, while perhapsthe object of the search was hidden the whole time within a wall'sthickness of his pursuers, half starved, cramped and sore withprolonged confinement, and almost afraid to breathe, lest theleast sound should throw suspicion upon the particular spot wherehe lay immured. After the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, "Little John" andhis master, Father Garnet, were arrested at Hindlip Hall, Worcestershire, from information given to the Government by Catesby'sservant Bates. Cecil, who was well aware of Owen's skill inconstructing hiding-places, wrote exultingly: "Great joy wascaused all through the kingdom by the arrest of Owen, knowinghis skill in constructing hiding-places, and the innumerablenumber of these dark holes which he had schemed for hiding prieststhroughout the kingdom. " He hoped that "great booty of priests"might be taken in consequence of the secrets Owen would be madeto reveal, and directed that first he should "be coaxed if hebe willing to contract for his life, " but that "the secret isto be wrung from him. " The horrors of the rack, however, failedin its purpose. His terrible death is thus briefly recorded bythe Governor of the Tower at that time: "The man is dead--hedied in our hands"; and perhaps it is as well the ghastly detailsdid not transpire in his report. The curious old mansion Hindlip Hall (pulled down in the earlypart of the last century) was erected in 1572 by John Abingdon, orHabington, whose son Thomas (the brother-in-law of Lord Monteagle)was deeply involved in the numerous plots against the reformedreligion. A long imprisonment in the Tower for his futile effortsto set Mary Queen of Scots at liberty, far from curing the dangerousschemes of this zealous partisan of the luckless Stuart heroine, only kept him out of mischief for a time. No sooner had he obtainedhis freedom than he set his mind to work to turn his house inWorcestershire into a harbour of refuge for the followers ofthe older rites. In the quaint irregularities of the masonryfree scope was given to "Little John's" ingenuity; indeed, thereis every proof that some of his masterpieces were constructedhere. A few years before the "Powder Plot" was discovered, itwas a hanging matter for a priest to be caught celebrating theMass. Yet with the facilities at Hindlip he might do so withcomfort, with every assurance that he had the means of evadingthe law. The walls of the mansion were literally riddled withsecret chambers and passages. There was little fear of beingrun to earth with hidden exits everywhere. Wainscoting, solidbrickwork, or stone hearth were equally accommodating, and wouldswallow 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 manuscriptin the British Museum, gives us an insight into the search-proofmerits of Abingdon's mansion. The document is headed: "_A truediscovery of the service performed at Hindlip, the house of Mr. Thomas Abbingdon, for the apprehension of Mr. Henry Garnet, aliasWolley, 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 aswould apprehend the traitors concerned in the Powder Conspiracy, and much expectation of subject-like duty, but no return madethereof in so important a matter, a warrant was directed to theright worthy and worshipful knight, Sir Henry Bromlie; and theproclamation delivered therewith, describing the features andshapes of the men, for the better discovering them. He, notneglecting so a weighty a business, horsing himself with a seemlytroop of his own attendants, and calling to his assistance somany as in discretion was thought meet, having likewise in hiscompany Sir Edward Bromlie, on Monday, Jan. 20 last, by breakof day, did engirt and round beat the house of Mayster ThomasAbbingdon, at Hindlip, near Worcester. Mr. Abbingdon, not beingthen at home, but ridden abroad about some occasions best knownto himself; the house being goodlie, and of great receipt, itrequired the more diligent labour and pains in the searching. It appeared there was no want; and Mr. Abbingdon himself cominghome that night, the commission and proclamation being shown untohim, he denied any such men to be in his house, and voluntarilyto 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 couldnot cause the search so slightly to be given over; the causeenforced more respect than words of that or any such like nature;and proceeding on according to the trust reposed in him in thegallery over the gate there were found two cunning and veryartificial conveyances in the main brick-wall, so ingeniouslyframed, and with such art, as it cost much labour ere they couldbe found. Three other secret places, contrived by no less skilland industry, were found in and about the chimneys, in one whereoftwo of the traitors were close concealed. These chimney-conveyancesbeing so strangely formed, having the entrances into them socuriously covered over with brick, mortared and made fast toplanks of wood, and coloured black, like the other parts of thechimney, that very diligent inquisition might well have passedby, without throwing the least suspicion upon such unsuspiciousplaces. And whereas divers funnels are usually made to chimneysaccording as they are combined together, and serve for necessaryuse in several rooms, so here were some that exceeded commonexpectation, seeming outwardly fit for carrying forth smoke;but being further examined and seen into, their service was tono such purpose but only to lend air and light downward intothe concealments, where such as were concealed in them, at anytime should be hidden. Eleven secret corners and conveyanceswere found in the said house, all of them having books, Massingstuff, and Popish trumpery in them, only two excepted, whichappeared to have been found on former searches, and thereforehad now the less credit given to them; but Mayster Abbingdonwould take no knowledge of any of these places, nor that thebooks, or Massing stuff, were any of his, until at length thedeeds of his lands being found in one of them, whose custodydoubtless he would not commit to any place of neglect, or wherehe 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 allthis while; but upon the fourth day, in the morning, from behindthe wainscot in the galleries, came forth two men of their ownvoluntary accord, as being no longer able there to concealthemselves; for they confessed that they had but one apple betweenthem, which was all the sustenance they had received during thetime they were thus hidden. One of them was named Owen, whoafterwards murdered himself in the Tower; and the other Chambers;but they would take no other knowledge of any other men's beingin the house. On the eighth day the before-mentioned place inthe chimney was found, according as they had all been at severaltimes, one after another, though before set down together, forexpressing the just number of them. "Forth of this secret and most cunning conveyance came HenryGarnet, 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, througha little hole in the chimney that backed another chimney intothe 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 annoythem that made entrance in upon them, to whom they confessedthat 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 twelvedays, and no more persons being there found, in company withMayster Abbingdon himself, Garnet, Hill [Hall], Owen, and Chambers, were brought up to London to understand further of his highness'spleasure. " That the Government had good grounds for suspecting Hindlip andits numerous hiding-places may be gathered from the officialinstructions the Worcestershire Justice of the Peace and hissearch-party had to follow. The wainscoting in the east part ofthe parlour and in the dining-room, being suspected of screening"a vault" or passage, was to be removed, the walls and floorswere to be pierced in all directions, comparative measurementswere to be taken between the upper and the lower rooms, and inparticular the chimneys, and the roof had to be minutely examined andmeasurements taken, which might bring to light some unaccounted-forspace that had been turned to good account by the unfortunateinventor, who was eventually starved out of one of his clevercontrivances. Only shortly before Owen had had a very narrow escape at StokePoges while engaged in constructing "priests' holes" at the ManorHouse. The secluded position of this building adapted it forthe purpose for which a Roman Catholic zealot had taken it. Butthis was not the only advantage. The walls were of vast thicknessand offered every facility for turning them to account. While"Little John" was busily engaged burrowing into the masonry thedreaded "pursuivants" arrived; but somehow or other he slippedbetween their fingers and got away under cover of the surroundingwoods. The wing of this old mansion which has survived to see the twentiethcentury witnessed many strange events. It has welcomed good QueenBess, guarded the Martyr King, and refused admittance to DutchWilliam. A couple of centuries after it had sheltered huntedJesuits, a descendant of William Penn became possessed of it, and cleared away many of the massive walls, in some of which--whocan tell?--were locked up secrets that the rack failed toreveal--secrets by which Owen "murdered himself" in the Tower! One of the hiding-places at Hindlip, it will be remembered, couldbe supplied with broth, wine, or any liquid nourishment througha small aperture in the wall of the adjoining room. A very goodexample of such an arrangement may still be seen at Irnham Hall, inLincolnshire. [1] A large hiding-place could thus be accommodated, but detection of the narrow iron tube by which the imprisonedfugitive could be kept alive was practically impossible. A solidoak beam, forming a step between two bedrooms, concealed a panelinto which the tube was cunningly fitted and the step was soarranged that it could be removed and replaced with the greatestease. [2] [Footnote 1: The fire which destroyed a wing of Irnham Hall afew years ago fortunately did not touch that part of the buildingcontaining a hiding-place. ] [Footnote 2: Harvington Hall, mentioned hereafter, has a contrivanceof this kind. ] The hiding-place at Irnham (which measures eight feet by five, and about five feet six inches in height) was discovered by atell-tale chimney that was not in the least blackened by sootor smoke. This originally gave the clue to the secret, and whenthe shaft of the chimney was examined, it was found to lead directto the priest's hole, to which it afforded air and light. Had not the particular hiding-place in which Garnet and hiscompanions sought shelter been discovered, they could well haveheld out the twelve days' search. As a rule, a small stock ofprovisions was kept in these places, as the visits of the searchparties were necessarily very sudden and unexpected. The way downinto these hidden quarters was from the floor above, throughthe hearth of a fireplace, which could be raised an lowered likea trap-door. [1] [Footnote 1: See Fowlis's _Romish Treasons. _] In a letter from Garnet to Ann Vaux, preserved in the RecordOffice, he thus describes his precarious situation: "After wehad been in the hoale seven days and seven nights and some oddhours, every man may well think we were well wearyed, and indeedso it was, for we generally satte, save that some times we couldhalf stretch ourselves, the place not being high eno', and we hadour legges so straitened that we could not, sitting, find placefor them, so that we both were in continuous paine of our legges, and both our legges, especially mine, were much swollen. We werevery merry and content within, and heard the searchers every daymost curious over us, which made me indeed think the place wouldbe found. When we came forth we appeared like ghosts. "[2] [Footnote 2: _State Papers_, Domestic (James I. ). ] There is an old timber-framed cottage near the modern mansionof Hindlip which is said to have had its share in sheltering theplotters. A room is pointed out where Digby and Catesby concealedthemselves, and from one of the chimneys at some time or anothera priest was captured and led to execution. CHAPTER III PRIEST-HUNTING AT BRADDOCKS In the parish of Wimbish, about six miles from Saffron Walden, stand the remains of a fine old Tudor house named Broad Oaks, or Braddocks, which in Elizabeth's reign was a noted house forpriest-hunting. Wandering through its ancient rooms, the imaginationreadily carries us back to the drama enacted here three centuriesago with a vividness as if the events recorded had happenedyesterday. "The chapel" and priests' holes may still be seen, anda fine old stone fireplace that was stripped of its overmantel, etc. , of carved oak by the "pursuivants" in their vain effortswhen Father Gerard was concealed in the house. [Illustration: BRADDOCKS, ESSEX] [Illustration: FIREPLACE AT BRADDOCKS] The old Essex family of Wiseman of Braddocks were staunch Romanists, and their home, being a noted resort for priests, received fromtime to time sudden visits. The dreaded Topcliffe had upon oneoccasion nearly brought the head of the family, an aged widow lady, to the horrors of the press-yard, but her punishment eventuallytook the form of imprisonment. Searches at Braddocks had broughtforth hiding-places, priests, compromising papers, and armourand weapons. Let us see with what success the house was exploredin the Easter of the year 1594. Gerard gives his exciting experiences as follows[1]:-- [Footnote 1: See Autobiography of Father John Gerard. ] "The searchers broke down the door, and forcing their way in, spread through the house with great noise and racket. "Their first step was to lock up the mistress of the house[2] inher own room with her two daughters, and the Catholic servantsthey kept locked up in divers places in the same part of thehouse. [Footnote 2: Jane Wiseman, wife of William Wiseman. N. B. --Thelate Cardinal Wiseman was descended from a junior branch of thisfamily. See Life of Father John Gerard, by John Morris. ] "They then took to themselves the whole house, which was of a goodsize, and made a thorough search in every part, not forgettingeven to look under the tiles of the roof. The darkest cornersthey examined with the help of candles. Finding nothing whateverthey began to break down certain places that they suspected. They measured the walls with long rods, so that if they did nottally they might pierce the part not accounted for. Then theysounded the walls and all the floors to find out and break intoany hollow places there might be. "They spent two days in this work without finding anything. Thinkingtherefore that I had gone on Easter Sunday, the two magistrateswent away on the second day, leaving the pursuivants to takethe mistress of the house and all her Catholic servants of bothsexes to London to be examined and imprisoned. They meant toleave some who were not Catholics to keep the house, the traitor(one of the servants of the house) being one of them. "The good lady was pleased at this, for she hoped that he wouldbe the means of freeing me and rescuing me from death; for sheknew that I had made up my mind to suffer and die of starvationbetween two walls, rather than come forth and save my own lifeat the expense of others. "In fact, during those four days that I lay hid I had nothingto eat but a biscuit or two and a little quince jelly, whichmy hostess had at hand and gave me as I was going in. "She did not look for any more, as she supposed that the searchwould not last beyond a day. But now that two days were goneand she was to be carried off on the third with all her trustyservants, she began to be afraid of my dying of sheer hunger. She bethought herself then of the traitor who she heard was tobe left behind. He had made a great fuss and show of eagerness inwithstanding the searchers when they first forced their way in. For all that she would not have let him know of the hiding-places, had she not been in such straits. Thinking it better, however, to rescue me from certain death, even at some risk to herself, she charged him, when she was taken away and everyone had gone, to go into a certain room, call me by my wonted name, and tellme that the others had been taken to prison, but that he was leftto deliver me. I would then answer, she said, from behind thelath and plaster where I lay concealed. The traitor promised toobey faithfully; but he was faithful only to the faithless, forhe unfolded the whole matter to the ruffians who had remainedbehind. "No sooner had they heard it than they called back the magistrateswho had departed. These returned early in the morning and renewedthe search. "They measured and sounded everywhere much more carefully thanbefore, especially in the chamber above mentioned, in order tofind out some hollow place. But finding nothing whatever duringthe whole of the third day, they proposed on the morrow to stripoff the wainscot of that room. "Meanwhile, they set guards in all the rooms about to watch allnight, lest I should escape. I heard from my hiding-place thepassword which the captain of the band gave to his soldiers, andI might have got off by using it, were it not that they wouldhave seen me issuing from my retreat, for there were two on guardin the chapel where I got into my hiding-place, and several alsoin the large wainscoted room which had been pointed out to them. "But mark the wonderful Providence of God. Here was I in myhiding-place. The way I got into it was by taking up the floor, made of wood and bricks, under the fireplace. The place was soconstructed that a fire could not be lit in it without damagingthe house; though we made a point of keeping wood there, as ifit were meant for a fire. "Well, the men on the night watch lit a fire in this very grateand began chatting together close to it. Soon the bricks whichhad not bricks but wood underneath them got loose, and nearlyfell out of their places as the wood gave way. On noticing thisand probing the place with a stick, they found that the bottomwas made of wood, whereupon they remarked that this was somethingcurious. I thought that they were going there and then to breakopen the place and enter, but they made up their minds at lastto put off further examination till next day. "Next morning, therefore, they renewed the search most carefully, everywhere except in the top chamber which served as a chapel, and in which the two watchmen had made a fire over my head andhad noticed the strange make of the grate. God had blotted outof their memory all remembrance of the thing. Nay, none of thesearchers entered the place the whole day, though it was theone that was most open to suspicion, and if they had entered, they would have found me without any search; rather, I shouldsay, they would have seen me, for the fire had burnt a greathole in my hiding-place, and had I not got a little out of theway, the hot embers would have fallen on me. "The searchers, forgetting or not caring about this room, busiedthemselves in ransacking the rooms below, in one of which I wassaid to be. In fact, they found the other hiding-place which Ithought of going into, as I mentioned before. It was not faroff, so I could hear their shouts of joy when they first foundit. But after joy comes grief; and so it was with them. The onlything that they found was a goodly store of provision laid up. Hence they may have thought that this was the place that themistress of the house meant; in fact, an answer might have beengiven from it to the call of a person in the room mentioned byher. "They stuck to their purpose, however, of stripping off all thewainscot of the other large room. So they set a man to work nearthe ceiling, close to the place where I was: for the lower partof the walls was covered with tapestry, not with wainscot. Sothey stripped off the wainscot all round till they came againto the very place where I lay, and there they lost heart andgave up the search. "My hiding-place was in a thick wall of the chimney behind afinely inlaid and carved mantelpiece. They could not well takethe carving down without risk of breaking it. Broken, however, it would have been, and that into a thousand pieces, had theyany conception that I could be concealed behind it. But knowingthat there were two flues, they did not think that there couldbe room enough there for a man. "Nay, before this, on the second day of the search, they hadgone into the room above, and tried the fireplace through whichI had got into my hole. They then got into the chimney by a ladderto sound with their hammers. One said to another in my hearing, 'Might there not be a place here for a person to get down intothe wall of the chimney below by lifting up this hearth?' 'No, 'answered one of the pursuivants, whose voice I knew, 'you couldnot get down that way into the chimney underneath, but theremight easily be an entrance at the back of this chimney. ' Sosaying he gave the place a knock. I was afraid that he would hearthe hollow sound of the hole where I was. "Seeing that their toil availed them nought, they thought thatI had escaped somehow, and so they went away at the end of thefour days, leaving the mistress and her servants free. The yetunbetrayed traitor stayed after the searchers were gone. As soonas the doors of the house were made fast, the mistress came tocall me, another four days buried Lazarus, from what would havebeen my tomb, had the search continued a little longer. For Iwas all wasted and weakened as well with hunger as with wantof sleep and with having to sit so long in such a narrow space. After coming out I was seen by the traitor, whose treachery wasstill unknown to us. He did nothing then, not even to send afterthe searchers, as he knew that I meant to be off before theycould be recalled. " The Wisemans had another house at North End, a few miles to thesouth-east of Dunmow. Here were also "priests' holes, " one ofwhich (in a chimney) secreted a certain Father Brewster duringa rigid search in December, 1593. [1] [Footnote 1: _State Papers_, Dom. (Eliz. ), December, 1593. See also Life of Father John Gerard, p. 138. ] Great Harrowden, near Wellingborough, the ancient seat of the Vauxfamily, was another notorious sanctuary for persecuted recusants. Gerard spent much of his time here in apartments speciallyconstructed for his use, and upon more than one occasion had tohave recourse to the hiding-places. Some four or five years afterhis experiences at Braddocks he narrowly escaped his pursuers inthis way; and in 1605, when the "pursuivants" were scouring thecountry for him, as he was supposed to be privy to the GunpowderPlot, he owed his life to a secret chamber at Harrowden. Thesearch-party remained for nine days. Night and day men were postedround the house, and every approach was guarded within a radiusof three miles. With the hope of getting rid of her unwelcomeguests, Lady Vaux revealed one of the "priests' holes" to provethere was nothing in her house beyond a few prohibited books;but this did not have the desired effect, so the unfortunateinmate of the hiding-place had to continue in a cramped position, there being no room to stand up, for four or five days more. Hishostess, however, managed to bring him food, and moments wereseized during the latter days of the search to get him out thathe might warm his benumbed limbs by a fire. While these thingswere going on at Harrowden, another priest, little thinking intowhose hands the well-known sanctuary had fallen, came thitherto seek shelter; but was seized and carried to an inn, whenceit was intended he should be removed to London on the followingday. But he managed to outwit his captors. To evade suspicionhe threw off his cloak and sword, and under a pretext of givinghis horse drink at a stream close by the stable, seized a luckymoment, mounted, and dashed into the water, swam across, andgalloped off to the nearest house that could offer the convenienceof a hiding-place. [1] [Footnote 1: See Life of John Gerard, p. 386. ] At Hackney the Vaux family had another, residence with its chapeland "priest's hole, " the latter having a masked entrance highup in the wall, which led to a space under a gable projectionof the roof. For double security this contained yet an innerhiding-place. In the existing Brooke House are incorporated themodernised remains of this mansion. CHAPTER IV THE GUNPOWDER PLOT CONSPIRATORS Lord Vaux of Harrowden, Sir William Catesby of Ashby St. Ledgers, and Sir Thomas Tresham of Rushton Hall (all in Northamptonshire)were upon more than one occasion arraigned before the Court of theStar Chamber for harbouring Jesuits. The old mansions Ashby St. Ledgers and Rushton fortunately still remain intact and preservemany traditions of Romanist plots. Sir William Catesby's son Robert, the chief conspirator, is said to have held secret meetings in thecurious oak-panelled room over the gate-house of the former, whichgoes by the name of "the Plot Room. " Once upon a time it was providedwith a secret means of escape. At Rushton Hall a hiding-place wasdiscovered in 1832 behind a lintel over a doorway; it was fullof bundles of manuscripts, prohibited books, and incriminatingcorrespondence of the conspirator Tresham. Another place ofconcealment was situated in the chimney of the great hall and inthis Father Oldcorn was hidden for a time. Gayhurst, or Gothurst, in Buckinghamshire, the seat of Sir Everard Digby, also remainsintact, one of the finest late Tudor buildings in the country;unfortunately, however, only recently a remarkable "priest'shole" that was here has been destroyed in consequence of modernimprovements. It was a double hiding-place, one situated beneaththe other; the lower one being so arranged as to receive light andair from the bottom portion of a large mullioned window--a mostingenious device. A secret passage in the hall had communicationwith it, and entrance was obtained through part of the flooringof an apartment, the movable part of the boards revolving uponpivots and sufficiently solid to vanquish any suspicion as toa hollow space beneath. [Illustration: ASHBY ST. LEDGERS, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE] [Illustration: THE PLOT ROOM, ASHBY ST. LEGERS] As may be supposed, tradition says that at the time of Digby'sarrest he was dragged forth from this hole, but history showsthat he was taken prisoner at Holbeach House (where, it will beremembered, the conspirators Catesby and Percy were shot), andled to execution. For a time Digby sought security at CoughtonCourt, the seat of the Throckmortons, in Warwickshire. The house ofthis old Roman Catholic family, of course, had its hiding-holes, one of which remains to this day. Holbeach as well as HagleyHall, the homes of the Litteltons, have been rebuilt. The latterwas pulled down in the middle of the eighteenth century. Hereit was that Stephen Littleton and Robert Winter were capturedthrough the treachery of the cook. Grant's house, Norbrook, inWarwickshire, has also given way to a modern one. Ambrose Rookwood's seat, Coldham Hall, near Bury St. Edmunds, exists and retains its secret chapel and hiding-places. There arethree of the latter; one of them, now a small withdrawing-room, is entered from the oak wainscoted hall. When the house was inthe market a few years ago, the "priests' holes" duly figured inthe advertisements with the rest of the apartments and offices. It read a little odd, this juxtaposition of modern convenienceswith what is essentially romantic, and we simply mention thefact to show that the auctioneer is well aware of the monetaryvalue of such things. At the time of the Gunpowder Conspiracy Rookwood rented CloptonHall, near Stratford-on-Avon. This house also has its littlechapel in the roof with adjacent "priests' holes, " but manyalterations have taken place from time to time. Who does notremember William Howitt's delightful description--or, to be correct, the description of a lady correspondent--of the old mansion beforethese restorations. "There was the old Catholic chapel, " she wrote, "with a chaplain's room which had been walled up and forgotten tillwithin the last few years. I went in on my hands and knees, for theentrance was very low. I recollect little in the chapel; but inthe chaplain's room were old and I should think rare editions ofmany books, mostly folios. A large yellow paper copy of Dryden's_All for Love, or the World Well Lost_, date 1686, caughtmy eye, and is the only one I particularly remember. "[1] [Footnote 1: Howitt's _Visits to Remarkable Places_. ] Huddington Court, the picturesque old home of the Winters (ofwhom Robert and Thomas lost their lives for their share in thePlot), stands a few miles from Droitwich. A considerable quantityof arms and ammunition were stored in the hiding-places here in1605 in readiness for general rising. [Illustration: HUDDINGTON COURT, WORCESTERSHIRE] [Illustration: ENTRANCE PORCH, HUDDINGTON COURT] Two other houses may be mentioned in connection with the memorablePlot--houses that were rented by the conspirators as convenientplaces of rendezvous an account of their hiding-places and maskedexits for escape. One of them stood in the vicinity of the Strand, in the fields behind St. Clement's Inn. Father Gerard had takenit some time previous to the discovery of the Plot, and withOwen's aid some very secure hiding-places were arranged. This hehad done with two or three other London residences, so that heand his brother priests might use them upon hazardous occasions;and to one of these he owed his life when the hue and cry afterhim was at its highest pitch. By removing from one to the otherthey avoided detection, though they had many narrow escapes. Onepriest was celebrating Mass when the Lord Mayor and constablessuddenly burst in. But the surprise party was disappointed: nothingcould be detected beyond the smoke of the extinguished candles;and in addition to the hole where the fugitive crouched therewere two other secret chambers, neither of which was discovered. On another occasion a priest was left shut up in a wall; hisfriends were taken prisoners, and he was in danger of starvation, until at length he was rescued from his perilous position, carriedto one of the other houses, and again immured in the vault orchimney. The other house was "White Webb's, " on the confines of EnfieldChase. In the Record Office there is a document describing how, many Popish books and relics were discovered when the latterwas searched. The building was full of trap-doors and secretpassages. Some vestiges of the out-buildings of "White Webb's"may still be seen in a quaint little inn called "The King andTinker. " But of all the narrow escapes perhaps Father Blount's experiencesat Scotney Castle were the most thrilling. This old house ofthe Darrells, situated on the border of Kent and Sussex, likeHindlip and Braddocks and most of the residences of the RomanCatholic gentry, contained the usual lurking-places for priests. The structure as it now stands is in the main modern, havingundergone from time to time considerable alterations. A vividaccount of Blount's hazardous escape here is preserved among themuniments at Stonyhurst--a transcript of the original formerlyat St. Omers. One Christmas night towards the close of Elizabeth's reign thecastle was seized by a party of priest-hunters, who, with theirusual mode of procedure, locked up the members of the family securelybefore starting on their operations. In the inner quadrangle ofthe mansion was a very remarkable and ingenious device. A largestone of the solid wall could be pushed aside. Though of immenseweight, it was so nicely balanced and adjusted that it requiredonly a slight pressure upon one side to effect an entrance tothe hiding-place within. Those who have visited the grounds atChatsworth may remember a huge piece of solid rock which can beswung round in the same easy manner. Upon the approach of theenemy, Father Blount and his servant hastened to the courtyardand entered the vault; but in their hurry to close the weightydoor a small portion of one of their girdles got jammed in, sothat a part was visible from the outside. Fortunately for thefugitives, someone in the secret, in passing the spot, happenedto catch sight of this tell-tale fragment and immediately cutit off; but as a particle still showed, they called gently tothose within to endeavour to pull it in, which they eventuallysucceeded in doing. At this moment the pursuivants were at work in another part ofthe castle, but hearing the voice in the courtyard, rushed intoit and commenced battering the walls, and at times upon the verydoor of the hiding-place, which would have given way had notthose within put their combined weight against it to keep itfrom yielding. It was a pitchy dark night, and it was peltingwith rain, so after a time, discouraged at finding nothing andwet to the skin, the soldiers put off further search until thefollowing morning, and proceeded to dry and refresh themselvesby the fire in the great hall. When all was at rest, Father Blount and his man, not caring torisk another day's hunting, cautiously crept forth bare-footed, and after managing to scale some high walls, dropt into the moatand swam across. And it was as well for them that they decidedto quit their hiding-hole, for next morning it was discovered. The fugitives found temporary security at another recusant housea few miles from Scotney, possibly the old half-timber house ofTwissenden, where a secret chapel and adjacent "priests' holes"are still pointed out. The original manuscript account of the search at Scotney waswritten by one of the Darrell family, who was in the castle atthe time of the events recorded. [1] [Footnote 1: See Morris's _Troubles of our CatholicForefathers. _] CHAPTER V HARVINGTON, UFTON, AND INGATESTONE We will now go in search of some of the most curious hiding-placesin existence. There are numerous known examples all over thecountry, and perhaps as many again exist, which will preservetheir secret for ever. For more than three hundred years theyhave remained buried, and unless some accident reveals theirlocked-up mysteries, they will crumble away with the walls whichcontain them; unless, indeed, fire, the doom of so many of ourancestral halls, reduces them to ashes and swallows up the weirdstories they might have told. In many cases not until an ancientbuilding is pulled down are such strange discoveries made; but, alas! there are as many instances where structural alterationshave wantonly destroyed these interesting historical landmarks. [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO "PRIEST'S HOLE, " HARVINGTON HALL] [Illustration: HARVINGTON HALL, WORCESTERSHIRE] Unaccounted-for spaces, when detected, are readily utilised. Passages are bodily run through the heart of many a secret device, with little veneration for the mechanical ingenuity that hasbeen displayed in their construction. The builder of to-day, as a rule, knows nothing of and cares less, for such things, and so they are swept away without a thought. To such vandalswe can only emphasise the remarks we have already made aboutthe market value of a "priest-hole" nowadays. A little to the right of the Kidderminster road, and about twomiles from the pretty village of Chaddesley Corbet, with its oldtimber houses and inn, stands the ghostly old hall of Harvington. The ancient red-brick pile rises out of its reed-grown moat withthat air of mystery which age and seeming neglect only can impart. Coming upon it unexpectedly, especially towards dusk, one isstruck with the strange, dignified melancholy pervading it. SurelyHood's _Haunted House_ or Poe's _House of Usher_ standsbefore us, and we cannot get away from the impression that amystery is wrapped within its walls. Harvington Hall dates fromthe reign of Henry VIII. , but it has undergone various changes, so it is difficult to affix any particular period or style toits architecture; indeed, it is this medley of different styleswhich forms such a poetically picturesque outline. In its dayHarvington could doubtless hold its own with the finest mansionsin the country, but now it is forgotten, deserted, and crumblingto pieces. Its very history appears to be lost to the world, asthose who go to the county histories and general topographicalworks for information will find. Inside the mansion, like the exterior, the hand of decay isperceptible on every side; the rooms are ruined, the windowsbroken, the floors unsafe (excepting, by the way, a small portionof the building which is habitable). A ponderous broad oak staircaseleads to a dismantled state-room, shorn of the principal part ofits panelling, carving, and chimney-pieces. [1] Other desolateapartments retain their names as if in mockery; "the drawing-room, ""the chapel, " "Lady Yates's nursery, " and so forth. At the topof the staircase, however, we must look around carefully, forbeneath the stairs is a remarkable hiding-place. [Footnote 1: Most of the interior fittings were removed to CoughtonCourt, Warwickshire. ] With a slight stretch of the imagination we can see an indistinctform stealthily remove the floorboard of one of the stairs andcreep beneath it. This particular step of a short flight runningfrom the landing into a garret is, upon closer inspection, indeedmovable, and beneath gapes a dark cavity about five feet square, onthe floor of which still remains the piece of sedge matting whereona certain Father Wall rested his aching limbs a few days prior tohis capture and execution in August, 1679. The unfortunate manwas taken at Rushock Court, a few miles away where he was tracedafter leaving Harvington. There is a communication between thehiding-place and "the banqueting-room" through, a small concealedaperture in the wainscoting large enough to admit of a tube, through which a straw could be thrust for the unhappy occupantto suck up any liquid his friends might be able to supply. In a gloomy corridor leading from the tower to "the reception-room"is another "priest's hole" beneath the floor, and entered by atrap-door artfully hidden in the boards; this black recess issome seven feet in depth, and can be made secure from within. Supposing the searchers had tracked a fugitive priest as faras this corridor, the odds are in favour that they would havepassed over his head in their haste to reach the tower, wherethey would make sure, in their own minds at least, of discoveringhim. Again, here there is a communication with the outside world. An oblong aperture in the top oak beam of the entrance gatewayto the house, measuring about four inches across, is the secretopening--small enough to escape the most inquisitive eye, yetlarge enough to allow of a written note to pass between the captiveand those upon the alert watching his interests. [1] [Footnote 1: N. B. --In addition to the above hiding-places atHarvington, one was discovered so recently as 1894; at least, so we have been informed. This was some years after our visitto the old Hall. ] A subterranean passage is said to run under the moat from a formerhiding-place, but this is doubtful; at any rate, there are noevidences of it nowadays. [Illustration: UFTON COURT, BERKSHIRE] [Illustration: GARDEN TERRACE, UFTON COURT] Altogether, Harvington is far from cheerful, even to a pond hardby called "Gallows Pool"! The tragic legend associated with thisis beyond the province of the present work, so we will bid adieuto this weird old hall, and turn our attention to another obscurehouse situated in the south-east corner of Berkshire. The curious, many-gabled mansion Ufton Court both from its secludedsituation and quaint internal construction, appears to have beenpeculiarly suitable for the secretion of persecuted priests. Hereare ample means for concealment and escape into the surroundingwoods; and so carefully have the ingenious bolts and locks ofthe various hiding-places been preserved, that one would almostimagine that there was still actual necessity for their use inthese matter-of-fact days! A remarkable place for concealment exists in one of the gablesclose to the ceiling. It is triangular in shape, and is openedby a spring-bolt that can be unlatched by pulling a string whichruns through a tiny hole pierced in the framework of the door ofthe adjoining room. The door of the hiding-place swings upon apivot, and externally is thickly covered with plaster, so as toresemble the rest of the wall, and is so solid that when soundedthere is no hollow sound from the cavity behind, where, no doubtthe crucifix and sacred vessels were secreted. [Illustration: HIDING-PLACE, UFTON COURT] [Illustration: HIDING PLACE, UFTON COURT] Not far off, in an upper garret, is a hiding-place in the thicknessof the wall, large enough to contain a man standing upright. Like the other, the door, or entrance, forms part of the plasterwall, intersected by thick oak beams, into which it exactly fits, disguising any appearance of an opening. Again, in one of thepassages of this curious old mansion are further evidences ofthe hardships to which Romish priests were subjected--a trap inthe floor, which can only be opened by pulling up what exteriorlyappears to be the head of one of the nails of the flooring; byraising this a spring is released and a trap-door opened, revealinga large hole with a narrow ladder leading down into it. Whenthis hiding-place was discovered in 1830, its contents weresignificant--_viz. _ a crucifix and two ancient petronels. Apartments known as "the chapel" and "the priest's vestry" arestill pointed out. The walls throughout the house appear to beintersected with passages and masked spaces, and old residentsclaim to have worked their way by these means right through fromthe garrets to the basement, though now the several hiding-placesdo not communicate one with another. There are said to be noless than twelve places of concealment in various parts of thebuilding. A shaft in the cellar is supposed to be one of themeans of exit from "the dining-room, " and at the back of thehouse a subterranean passage may still be traced a considerabledistance under the terrace. [Illustration: INGATESTONE HALL, ESSEX] [Illustration: INGATESTONE HALL] An interesting discovery was made some years ago at IngatestoneHall, Essex, the ancient seat of the Petres. The late Rev. CanonLast, who had resided there as private chaplain for over sixtyyears, described to us the incidents of this curious "find, " towhich he was an eye-witness. Some of the floor-boards in thesouth-east corner of a small ante-room adjoining what was once"the host's bedroom, " facing the south front, broke away, rottenwith age, while some children were playing there. These beingremoved, a second layer of boards was brought to light withina foot of the old flooring, and in this a trap-door was foundwhich, when opened, discovered a large "priest's hole, " measuringfourteen feet long, ten feet high, and two feet wide. A twelve-stepladder led down into it, and the floor being on a level with thebasement of the house was covered with a layer of dry sand tothe depth of nearly a foot, so as to absorb any moisture fromthe ground. [1] In the sand a few bones of a bird were found, possibly the remains of food supplied to some unfortunate priest. Those who climb down into this hole will find much that isinteresting to repay them their trouble. From the wall projectsa candle-holder, rudely modelled out of clay. An examination ofthe brick-work in the interior of the "priest's hole" provesit to be of later construction than the rest of the house (whichdates from the early part of the sixteenth century), so in alllikelihood "Little John" was the manufacturer. [Footnote 1: At Moorcroft House, near Hillingdon, Middlesex, now modernised and occupied as a private lunatic asylum, tenpriests were once concealed for four days in a hiding-place, the floor of which was covered some inches in water. This wasone of the many comforts of a "priest's hole"!] Standing in the same position as when first opened, and supportedby two blocks of oak, is an old chest or packing-case made ofyew, covered with leather, and bound with bands of iron, whereinformerly the vestments, utensils, etc. , for the Mass were kept. Upon it, in faded and antiquated writing, was the followingdirection: "For the Right Hon. The Lady Petre at IngatestoneHall, in Essex. " The Petres had quitted the old mansion as aresidence for considerably over a century when the discovery wasmade. [Illustration: PRIEST'S HOLE, SAWSTON HALL] CHAPTER VI COMPTON WINYATES, SALFORD PRIOR, SAWSTON, OXBURGH, PARHAM, PAXHILL, ETC. Of all the ancient mansions in the United Kingdom, and there isstill, happily, a large selection, none perhaps is so picturesque andquaintly original in its architecture as the secluded Warwickshirehouse Compton Winyates. The general impression of its vastcomplication of gable ends and twisted chimneys is that someenchanted palace has found its way out of one of the fairy-talebooks of our early youth and concealed itself deep down in asequestered hollow among the woods and hills. We say concealeditself, for indeed it is no easy matter to find it, for anythingin the shape of a road seems rather to lead _away from_, than _to_ it; indeed, there is no direct road from anywhere, and if we are fortunate enough to alight upon a footpath, thatalso in a very short time fades away into oblivion! So solitaryalso is the valley in which the mansion lies and so shut in withthick clustering trees, that one unacquainted with the localitymight pass within fifty yards of it over and over again withoutobserving a trace of it. When, however, we do discover the beautifulold structure, we are well repaid for what trouble we may haveencountered. To locate the spot within a couple of miles, wemay state that Brailes is its nearest village; the nearest townis Banbury, some nine miles away to the east. Perhaps if we were to analyse the peculiar charm this venerablepile conveys, we should find that it is the wonderful _colour_, the harmonies of greys and greens and reds which pervade itscountless chimney clusters and curious step-gables. We will becontent, however, with the fascinating results, no matter howaccomplished, without inquiring into the why and wherefore; andpondering over the possibilities of the marvellous in such abuilding see, if the interior can carry out such a supposition. [Illustration: SCOTNEY HALL, SUSSEX] [Illustration: COMPTON WINYATES, WARWICKSHIRE] Wending our way to the top of the house, past countless old-worldrooms and corridors, we soon discover evidences of the days ofpriest-hunting. A "Protestant" chapel is on the ground floor(with a grotesquely carved screen of great beauty), but up inthe roof we discover another--a "Popish" chapel. From this thereare numerous ways of escape, by staircases and passages leadingin all directions, for even in the almost impenetrable seclusionof this house the profoundest secrecy was necessary for thosewho wished to celebrate the rites of the forbidden religion. Should the priest be surprised and not have time to descend oneof the many staircases and effect his escape by the ready meansin the lower part of the house, there are secret closets betweenthe timber beams of the roof and the wainscot into which he couldcreep. Curious rooms run along each side in the roof round the quadrangle, called "the barracks, " into which it would be possible to packaway a whole regiment of soldiers. Not far away are "the falsefloors, " a typical Amy Robsart death-trap! A place of security here, once upon a time, could only be reachedby a ladder; later, however, it was made easier of access by adark passage, but it was as secure as ever from intrusion. Thefugitive had the ready means of isolating himself by removinga large portion of the floor-boards; supposing, therefore, hislurking-place had been traced, he had only to arrange this deadlygap, and his pursuers would run headlong to their fate. Many other strange rooms there are, not the least interestingof which is a tiny apartment away from everywhere called "theDevil's chamber, " and another little chamber whose window is_invariably found open in the morning, though securely fastenedon the previous night!_ Various finds have been made from time to time at Compton Winyates. Not many years ago a bricked-up space was found in a wall containinga perfect skeleton!--at another an antique box full of papersbelonging to the past history of the family (the Comptons) wasdiscovered in a secret cavity beneath one of the windows. [Illustration: MINSTREL'S GALLERY, COMPTON WINYATES] The "false floors" to which we have alluded suggests a hiding-placethat was put to very practical use by two old maiden ladies someyears ago at an ancient building near Malvern, Pickersleigh Court. Each night before retiring to rest some floor-boards of a passage, originally the entrance to a "priest's hole, " were removed. Thispassage led to their bedroom, so that they were protected much inthe same way as the fugitive at Compton Winyates, by a yawninggap. Local tradition does not record how many would-be burglarswere trapped in this way, but it is certain that should anyoneever have ventured along that passage, they would have beenprecipitated with more speed than ceremony into a cellar below. Pickersleigh, it may be pointed out, is erroneously shown inconnection with the wanderings of Charles II. After the battleWorcester. [1] [Footnote 1: See _The Flight of the King. _] Salford Prior Hall (otherwise known as "the Nunnery, " or AbbotsSalford), not far from Evesham, is another mansion remarkablefor its picturesqueness as well as for its capacity for hiding. It not only has its Roman Catholic chapel, but a resident priestholds services there to this day. Up in the garret is the "priest'shole, " ready, it would seem, for some present emergency, so wellis it concealed and in such perfect working order; and even whenits position is pointed out, nothing is to be seen but the mostinnocent-looking of cupboards. By removing a hidden peg, however, the whole back of it, shelves and all, swings backwards into adismal recess some four feet in depth. This deceitful swing doormay be secured on the inside by a stout wooden bolt providedfor that purpose. [Illustration: COMPTON WINYATES, WARWICKSHIRE] [Illustration: SAWSTON HALL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE] [Illustration: PICKERSLEIGH COURT, WORCESTERSHIRE] [Illustration: SALFORD PRIOR HALL, WARWICKSHIRE] [Illustration: SALFORD PRIOR HALL] [Illustration: HIDING-PLACE, SALFORD PRIOR] [Illustration: HIDING-PLACE, SALFORD PRIOR (SHEWING ENTRANCE)] Another hiding place as artfully contrived and as little changedsince the day it was manufactured is one at Sawston, the ancestralseat of the old family of Huddleston. Sawston Hall is a typicalElizabethan building. The one which preceded it was burnt to theground by the adherents of Lady Jane Grey, as the Huddlestonof that day, upon the death of King Edward VI. , received hissister Mary under his protection, and contrived her escape toFramlingham Castle, where she was carried in disguise, ridingpillion behind a servant. The secret chamber, as at Harvington, is on the top landing ofthe staircase, and the entrance is so cleverly arranged thatit slants into the masonry of a circular tower without showingthe least perceptible sign from the exterior of a space capableof holding a baby, far less a man. A particular board in thelanding is raised, and beneath it, in a corner of the cavity, is found a stone slab containing a circular aperture, somethingafter the manner of our modern urban receptacles for coal. Fromthis hole a tunnel slants downwards at an angle into the adjacentwall, 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 from large. Blocks of oak fixed upon the inside of the movable floor-boardfit with great nicety into their firm oak sockets in the beams, which run at right angles and support the landing, so that theopening is so massive and firm that, unless pointed out, theparticular floor-board could never be detected, and when securedfrom the inside would defy a battering-ram. [Illustration: OXBURGH HALL, NORFOLK] The Huddlestons, or rather their connections the Thornboroughs, have an old house at Leyburn, in Yorkshire, named "The Grove, "which also contained its hiding-place, but unfortunately this isone of those instances where alterations and modern convenienceshave destroyed what can never be replaced. The priest, FatherJohn Huddleston (who aided King Charles II. To escape, and who, it will be remembered, was introduced to that monarch's death-bedby way of a _secret staircase_ in the palace of Whitehall), lived in this house some time during the seventeenth century. One of the most ingenious hiding-places extant is to be seenat Oxburgh Hall, near Stoke Ferry, the grand old moated mansionof the ancient Bedingfield family. In solidity and compactnessit is unique. Up in one of the turrets of the entrance gatewayis a tiny closet, the floor of which is composed of brickworkfixed into a wooden frame. Upon pressure being applied to oneside of this floor, the opposite side heaves up with a groan atits own weight. Beneath lies a hollow, seven feet square, wherea priest might lie concealed with the gratifying knowledge that, however the ponderous trap-door be hammered from above, therewould be no tell-tale hollowness as a response. Having boltedhimself in, he might to all intents and purposes be imbedded ina rock (though truly a toad so situated is not always safe fromintrusion). Three centuries have rolled away and thirteen sovereignshave reigned since the construction of this hiding-place, but themechanism of this masterpiece of ingenuity remains as perfectas if it had been made yesterday! Those who may be privilegedwith permission to inspect the interesting hall will find othersurprises where least expected. An oak-panelled passage upon thebasement of the aforesaid entrance gateway contains a secretdoor that gives admittance into the living-rooms in the mosteccentric manner. A priest's hole beneath the floor of a small oratory adjoining"the chapel" (now a bedroom) at Borwick Hall, Lancashire, has anopening devised much in the same fashion as that at Oxburgh. Byleaning his weight upon a certain portion of the boards, a fugitivecould slide into a convenient gap, while the floor would adjustitself above his head and leave no trace of his where-abouts. [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO HIDING-PLACE, PARHAM HALL, SUSSEX] Window-seats not uncommonly formed the entrance to holes beneaththe level of the floor. In the long gallery of Parham Hall, Sussex, an example of this may be seen. It is not far from "the chapel, "and the officiating priest in this instance would withdraw apanel whose position is now occupied by a door; but the entranceto the hiding-place within the projecting bay of the window ismuch the same as it ever was. After the failure of the Babingtonconspiracy one Charles Paget was concealed here for some days. The Tudor house of Tusmore, in Oxfordshire, also had a secretchamber, approached through a fixed settle in "the parlour" window. A tradition in the neighbourhood says that the great fish-pondnear the site of the old house was dug by a priest and his servantin the days of religious persecution, constituting their dailyoccupation for twelve years! Paxhill, in Sussex, the ancient seat of the Bordes, has a priest'shole behind a window-shutter, and it is large enough to hold severalpersons; there is another large hiding-hole in the ceiling of aroom on the ground floor, which is reached through a trap-doorin the floor above. It is provided with a stone bench. In castles and even ecclesiastical buildings sections of massivestone columns have been found to rotate and reveal a hole in anadjacent wall--even an altar has occasionally been put to usefor concealing purposes. At Naworth Castle, for instance, in"Lord William's Tower, " there is an oratory behind the altar, inwhich fugitives not only could be hidden but could see anythingthat transpired in its vicinity. In Chichester Cathedral there isa room called Lollards' Prison, which is approached by a slidingpanel in the old consistory-room situated over the south porch. The manor house of Great Chalfield, in Wiltshire, has a uniquedevice by which any suspected person could be watched. The eyeof a stone mask in the masonry is hollowed out and through thisa suspicious lord of the manor could, unseen, be a witness toany treachery on the part of his retainers or guests. [Illustration: PAXHILL, SUSSEX] [Illustration: CLEEVE PRIOR MANOR HOUSE, WORCESTERSHIRE] The old moated hall Baddesley Clinton, in Warwickshire, the ancientseat of the Ferrers, has a stone well or shaft near "the chapel. "There were formerly projections or steps by which a fugitivecould reach a secret passage extending round nearly two sidesof the house to a small water-gate by the moat, where a boatwas kept in readiness. Adjoining the "banqueting-room" on theeast side of the building is a secret chamber six feet squarewith a bench all round it. It is now walled up, but the narrowstaircase, behind the wainscoting, leading up to it is unaltered. Cleeve Prior Manor House, in Worcestershire (though close uponthe border of Warwickshire)) famous for its unique yew avenue, has a priest's hole, a cramped space five feet by two, in whichit is necessary to lie down. As at Ingatestone, it is below thefloor of a small chamber adjoining the principal bedroom, andis entered by removing one of the floor-boards. Wollas Hall, an Elizabethan mansion on Bredon Hill, near Pershore(held uninterruptedly by the Hanford family since the sixteenthcentury), has a chapel in the upper part of the house, and asecret chamber, or priest's hole, provided with a diminutivefire-place. When the officiating priest was about to celebrateMass, it was the custom here to spread linen upon the hedges asa sign to those in the adjacent villages who wished to attend. A hiding-place at Treago, Herefordshire (an unique specimen ofa thirteenth-century fortified mansion) inhabited by the Mynorfamily for more than four hundred years), has quite luxuriousaccommodation--a sleeping-place and a reading-desk. It is called"Pope's Hole. " The walls on the south-east side of the house areof immense thickness, and there are many indications of secretpassages within them. [Illustration: BADDESLEY CLINTON, WARWICKSHIRE] Some fifty years ago a hiding-hole was opened in a chimney adjoining"the chapel" of Lydiate Hall, Lancashire; and since then onewas discovered behind the rafters of the roof. Another ancienthouse close by contained a priest's hole where were found somereligious books and an old carved oak chair. Myddleton Lodge, near Ilkley, had a secret chapel in the roof, which is now divided up into several apartments. In the groundsis to be seen a curious maze of thickly planted evergreens inthe shape of a cross. From the fact that at one end remain threewooden crosses, there is but little doubt that at the time ofreligious persecution the privacy of the maze was used for secretworship. When Slindon House, Sussex, was undergoing some restorations, a"priest's hole" communicating with the roof was discovered. Itcontained some ancient devotional books, and against the wallswere hung stout leathern straps, by which a person could lethimself down. The internal arrangements at Plowden Hall, Shropshire, give onea good idea of the feeling of insecurity that must have beenso prevalent in those "good old days. " Running from the top ofthe house there is in the thickness of the wall, a concealedcircular shoot about a couple of feet in diameter, through whicha person could lower himself, if necessary, to the ground floorby the aid of a rope. Here also, beneath the floor-boards of acupboard in one of the bedrooms, is a concealed chamber with afixed shelf, presumably provided to act as a sort of table forthe unfortunate individual who was forced to occupy the narrowlimits of the room. Years before this hiding-place was openedto the light of day (in the course of some alterations to thehouse), its existence and actual position was well known; still, strange to say, the way into it had never been discovered. CHAPTER VII KING-HUNTING: BOSCOBEL, MOSELEY, TRENT, AND HEALE When the Civil War was raging, many a defeated cavalier owedhis preservation to the "priests' holes" and secret chambersof the old Roman Catholic houses all over the country. Did notCharles II. Himself owe his life to the conveniences offeredat Boscobel, Moseley, Trent, and Heale? We have elsewhere[1]gone minutely into the young king's hair-breadth adventures;but the story is so closely connected with the present subjectthat we must record something of his sojourn at these four oldhouses, as from an historical point of view they are of exceptionalinterest, if one but considers how the order of things would havebeen changed had either of these hiding-places been discoveredat the time "his Sacred Majesty" occupied them. It is vain tospeculate upon the probabilities; still, there is no ignoringthe fact that had Charles been captured he would have sharedthe fate of his father. [Footnote 1: See _The Flight of the King_. ] [Illustration: HIDING-PLACE BENEATH "THE CHAPEL, " BOSCOBEL, SALOP] [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO HIDING-PLACE IN "THE GARRET" OR "CHAPEL, "BOSCOBEL] [Illustration: HIDING-PLACE IN "THE SQUIRE'S BEDROOM, " BOSCOBEL] [Illustration: SECRET PANEL, TRENT HOUSE, SOMERSETSHIRE] [Illustration: BOSCOBEL, SALOP] [Illustration: HIDING-PLACE, TRENT HOUSE] [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO HIDING-PLACE, TRENT HOUSE] [Illustration: TRENT HOUSE IN 1864] [Illustration: HEALE HOUSE, WILTSHIRE] After the defeat of Wigan, the gallant Earl of Derby sought refugeat the isolated, wood-surrounded hunting-lodge of Boscobel, andafter remaining there concealed for two days, proceeded to GatacrePark, now rebuilt, but then and for long after famous for itssecret chambers. Here he remained hidden prior to the disastrousbattle of Worcester. Upon the close of that eventful third of September, 1651, theEarl, at the time that the King and his advisers knew not whichway to turn for safety, recounted his recent experiences, andcalled attention to the loyalty of the brothers Penderel. Itwas speedily resolved, therefore, to hasten northwards towardsBrewood Forest, upon the borders of Staffordshire and Salop. "As soon as I was disguised, " says Charles, "I took with me acountry fellow whose name was Richard Penderell. . . . He was aRoman Catholic, and I chose to trust them [the Penderells] becauseI knew they had hiding-holes for priests that I thought I mightmake use of in case of need. " Before taking up his quarters inthe house, however, the idea of escaping into Wales occured toCharles, so, when night set in, he quitted Boscobel Wood, wherehe had been hidden all the day, and started on foot with hisrustic guide in a westerly direction with the object of gettingover the river Severn, but various hardships and obstacles inducedPenderel to suggest a halt at a house at Madeley, near the river, where they might rest during the day and continue the journeyunder cover of darkness on the following night; the house furtherhad the attraction of "priests' holes. " "We continued our way onto the village upon the Severn, " resumes the King, "where thefellow told me there was an honest gentleman, one Mr. Woolfe, that lived in that town, where I might be with great safety, forhe had hiding-holes for priests. . . . So I came into the house aback way, where I found Mr. Woolfe, an old gentleman, who told mehe was very sorry to see me there, because there was two companiesof the militia foot at that time in arms in the town, and kept aguard at the ferry, to examine everybody that came that way inexpectation of catching some that might be making their escapethat way; and that he durst not put me into any of the hiding-holesof his house, because they had been discovered, and consequently, if any search should be made, they would certainly repair tothese holes, and that therefore I had no other way of securitybut to go into his barn and there lie behind his corn and hay. " [Illustration: MADELEY COURT, SHROPSHIRE] [Illustration: THE COURTYARD, MADELEY COURT] [Illustration: MADELEY COURT] [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO "PRIEST'S HOLE, " THE UPPER HOUSE, MADELEY] The Madeley "priest's hole" which was considered unsafe is stillextant. It is in one of the attics of "the Upper House, " butthe entrance is now very palpable. Those who are curious enoughto climb up into this black hole will discover a rude woodenbench within it--a luxury compared with some hiding-places! The river Severn being strictly guarded everywhere, Charles andhis companions retraced their steps the next night towards Boscobel. After a day spent up in the branches of the famous _Royal Oak_, the fugitive monarch made his resting-place the secret chamberbehind the wainscoting of what is called "the Squire's Bedroom. "There is another hiding-place, however, hard by in a garret whichmay have been the one selected. The latter lies beneath the floorof this garret, or "Popish chapel, " as it was once termed. At thetop of a flight of steps leading to it is a small trap-door, andwhen this is removed a step-ladder may be seen leading down intothe recess. [1] The other place behind the wainscot is situatedin a chimney stack and is more roomy in its proportions. Hereagain is an inner hiding-place, entered through a trap-door inthe floor, with a narrow staircase leading to an exit in thebasement. So much for Boscobel. [Footnote 1: The hiding-place in the garret measures about 5 feet2 inches in depth by 3-1/2 or 4-1/2 feet in width. ] Moseley Hall is thus referred to by the King: "I. . . Sent Penderell'sbrother to Mr. Pitchcroft's [Whitgreaves] to know whether myLord Wilmot was there or no, and had word brought me by him atnight that my lord was there, that there was a _very securehiding-hole_ in Mr. Pitchcroft's house, and that he desiredme to come thither to him. " It was while at Moseley the King had a very narrow escape. Asearch-party arrived on the scene and demanded admittance. Charles'shost himself gives the account of this adventure: "In the afternoon[the King] reposing himself on his bed in the parlour chamberand inclineing to sleep, as I was watching at the window, one ofthe neighbours I saw come running in, who told the maid soldierswere comeing to search, who thereupon presentlie came running tothe staires head, and cried, 'Soldiers, soldiers are coming, 'which his majestie hearing presentlie started out of his bedd andrun to _his privacie, where I secured him the best I could_, and then leaving him, went forth into the street to meet thesoldiers who were comeing to search, who as soon as they sawand knew who I was were readie to pull mee to pieces, and takeme away with them, saying I was come from the Worcester fight;but after much dispute with them, and by the neighbours beinginformed of their false information that I was not there, beingvery ill a great while, they let mee goe; but till I saw themclearly all gone forth of the town I returned not; but as soonas they were, I returned to release him and did acquaint himwith my stay, which hee thought long, and then hee began to beevery chearful again. In the interim, whilst I was disputing with the soldiers, oneof them called Southall came in the ffould and asked a smith, as hee was shooing horses there, if he could tell where the Kingwas, and he should have "a thousand pounds for his payns. . . . "This Southall was a great priest-catcher. [Illustration: "PRIEST'S HOLE, " MOSELEY HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE] The hiding-place is located beneath the floor of a cupboard, adjoining the quaint old panelled bedroom the King occupied whilehe was at Moseley. Even "the merry monarch" must have felt depressedin such a dismal hole as this, and we can picture his anxiousexpression, as he sat upon the rude seat of brick which occupiesone end of it, awaiting the result of the sudden alarm. The cupboardorginally was screened with wainscoting, a panel of which couldbe opened and closed by a spring. Family tradition also saysthere was a outlet from the hiding-place in a brew-house chimney. Situated in a gable end of the building, near the old chapel, in a garret, there is another "priest's hole" large enough onlyto admit of a person lying down full length. Before the old seat of the Whitgreaves was restored some fifteenor twenty years ago it was one of the most picturesque half-timberhouses, not only in Staffordshire, but in England. It had remainedpractically untouched since the day above alluded to (September9th, 1651). Before reaching Trent, in Somersetshire, the much sought-for kinghad many hardships to undergo and many strange experiences. Wemust, however, confine our remarks to those of the old buildingswhich offered him an asylum that could boast a hiding-place. Trent House was one of these. The very fact that it originallybelonged to the recusant Gerard family is sufficient evidence. From the Gerards it passed by marriage to the Wyndhams, who werein residence in the year we speak of. That his Majesty spent muchof his time in the actual hiding-place at Trent is very doubtful. Altogether he was safely housed here for over a fortnight, andduring that time doubtless occasional alarms drove him, as atMoseley, into his sanctuary; but a secluded room was set apartfor his use, where he had ample space to move about, and fromwhich he could reach his hiding-place at a moment's notice. Theblack oak panelling and beams of this cosy apartment, with itsdeep window recesses, readily carries the mind back to the timewhen its royal inmate wiled away the weary hours by cooking hismeals and amusing himself as best he could--indeed a hardshipfor one, such as he, so fond of outdoor exercise. Close to the fireplace are two small, square secret panels, at onetime used for the secretion of sacred books or vessels, valuablesor compromising deeds, but pointed out to visitors as a kind ofbuttery hatch through which Charles II. Received his food. TheKing by day, also according to local tradition, is said to havekept up communication with his friends in the house by meansof a string suspended in the kitchen chimney. That apartment isimmediately beneath, and has a fireplace of huge dimensions. An old Tudor doorway leading into this part of the house is saidto have been screened from observation by a load of hay. Now for the hiding-place. Between this and "my Lady Wyndham'schamber" (the aforesaid panelled room that was kept exclusivelyfor Charles's use) was a small ante-room, long since demolished, its position being now occupied by a rudely constructed staircase, from the landing of which the hiding-place is now entered. Thesmall secret apartment is approached through a triangular holein the wall, something after the fashion of that at Ufton Court;but when one has squeezed through this aperture he will findplenty of room to stretch his limbs. The hole, which was closeup against the rafters of the roof of the staircase landing, when viewed from the inside of the apartment, is situated at thebase of a blocked-up stone Tudor doorway. Beneath the boards ofthe floor--as at Boscobel and Moseley--is an inner hiding-place, from which it was formerly possible to find an exit through thebrew-house chimney. It was from Trent House that Charles visited the Dorsetshirecoast in the hopes of getting clear of England; but a complicationof misadventures induced him to hasten back with all speed tothe pretty little village of Trent, to seek once, more shelterbeneath the roof of the Royalist Colonel Wyndham. To resume the King's account:-- "As soon as we came to Frank Windham's I sent away presently toColonel Robert Philips [Phelips], who lived then at Salisbury, tosee what he could do for the getting me a ship; which he undertookvery willingly, and had got one at Southampton, but by misfortuneshe was amongst others prest to transport their soldiers to Jersey, by which she failed us also. "Upon this, I sent further into Sussex, where Robin Philips knewone Colonel Gunter, to see whether he could hire a ship anywhereupon that coast. And not thinking it convenient for me to staymuch longer at Frank Windham's (where I had been in all about afortnight, and was become known to very many), I went directlyaway to a widow gentlewoman's house, one Mrs. Hyde, some fouror five miles from Salisbury, where I came into the house justas it was almost dark, with Robin Philips only, not intendingat first to make myself known. But just as I alighted at thedoor, Mrs. Hyde knew me, though she had never seen me but oncein her life, and that was with the king, my father, in the army, when we marched by Salisbury some years before, in the time ofthe war; but she, being a discreet woman, took no notice at thattime of me, I passing only for a friend of Robin Philips', bywhose advice I went thither. "At supper there was with us Frederick Hyde, since a judge, andhis sister-in-law, a widow, Robin Philips, myself, and Dr. Henshaw[Henchman], since Bishop of London, whom I had appointed to meetme there. "While we were at slipper, I observed Mrs. Hyde and her brotherFrederick to look a little earnestly at me, which led me to believethey might know me. But I was not at all startled by it, it havingbeen my purpose to let her know who I was; and, accordingly, after supper Mrs. Hyde came to me, and I discovered myself toher, who told me she had a very safe place to hide me in, tillwe knew whether our ship was ready or no. But she said it wasnot safe for her to trust anybody but herself and her sister, and therefore advised me to take my horse next morning and makeas if I quitted the house, and return again about night; for shewould order it so that all her servants and everybody shouldbe out of the house but herself and her sister, whose name Iremember not. "So Robin Philips and I took our horses and went as far asStonehenge; and there we staid looking upon the stones for sometime, and returned back again to Hale [Heale] (the place whereMrs. Hyde lived) about the hour she appointed; where I went upinto the hiding-hole, that was very convenient and safe, andstaid there all alone (Robin Philips then going away to Salisbury)some four or five days. " Both exterior and interior of Heale House as it stands to-daypoint to a later date than 1651, though there are here and therevestiges of architecture anterior to the middle of the seventeenthcentury; the hiding-place, however, is not among these, and looksnothing beyond a very deep cupboard adjoining one of the bedrooms, with nothing peculiar to distinguish it from ordinary cupboards. But for all its modern innovations there is something about Healewhich suggests a house with a history. Whether it is its environmentof winding river and ancient cedar-trees, its venerable stablesand imposing entrance gate, or the fact that it is one of thosedistinguished houses that have saved the life of an English king, we will not undertake to fathom. CHAPTER VIII CAVALIER-HUNTING, ETC. An old mansion in the precincts of the cathedral at Salisbury issaid to have been a favourite hiding-place for fugitive cavaliersat the time of the Civil War. There is an inn immediately oppositethis house, just outside the close, where the landlord (formerly aservant to the family who lived in the mansion) during the troubloustimes acted as a secret agent for those who were concealed, andproved invaluable by conveying messages and in other ways aidingthose Royalists whose lives were in danger. [Illustration: SECRET PANEL AT SALISBURY] There are still certain "priests' holes" in the house, but the mostinteresting hiding-place is situated in the most innocent-lookingof summer-houses in the grounds. The interior of this littlestructure is wainscoted round with large panels like most ofthe summer-houses, pavilions, or music-rooms of the seventeenthcentury, and nothing uncommon or mysterious was discovered untilsome twenty-five years ago. By the merest accident one of thepanels was found to open, revealing what appeared to be an ordinarycupboard with shelves. Further investigations, however, provedits real object. By sliding one of the shelves out of the groovesinto which it is fixed, a very narrow, disguised door, a littleover a foot in width, in the side of the cupboard and in thethickness of the wall can be opened. This again reveals a narrowpassage, or staircase, leading up to the joists above the ceiling, and thence to a recess situated immediately behind the carvedornamental facing over the entrance door of the summer-house. In this there is a narrow chink or peep-hole, from which thefugitive could keep on the look-out either for danger or for thefriendly Royalist agent of the "King's Arms. " When it was first discovered there were evidences of its lastoccupant--_viz. _ a Jacobean horn tumbler, a mattress, and ahandsomely worked velvet pillow; the last two articles, providedno doubt for the comfort of some hunted cavalier, upon beinghandled, fell to pieces. It may be mentioned that the inner doorof the cupboard can be securely fastened from the inside by aniron hook and staple for that purpose. Hewitt, mine host of the "King's Arms, " was not idle at the timetransactions were in progress to transfer Charles II. From Trentto Heale, and received within his house Lord Wilmot, ColonelPhelips, and other of the King's friends who were actively engagedin making preparations for the memorable journey. This old inn, with its oak-panelled rooms and rambling corridors, makes a verysuitable neighbour to the more dignified old brick mansion opposite, with which it is so closely associated. [Illustration: SECRET CHAMBER, CHASTLETON, OXFORDSHIRE] [Illustration: OLD SUMMER HOUSE, SALISBURY (SHEWING CARVING INWHICH IS A PEEP-HOLE FOR HIDING-PLACE BEHIND)] Many are the exciting stories related of the defeated Royalists, especially after the Worcester fight. One of them, Lord Talbot, hastened to his paternal home of Longford, near Newport (Salop), and had just time to conceal himself ere his pursuers arrived, who, finding his horse saddled, concluded that the rider couldnot be far off. They therefore searched the house minutely forfour or five days, and the fugitive would have perished for wantof food, had not one of the servants contrived, at great personalrisk, to pay him nocturnal visits and supply him with nourishment. The grey old Jacobean mansion Chastleton preserves in itsoak-panelled hall the sword and portrait of the gallant cavalierCaptain Arthur Jones, who, narrowly escaping from the battlefield, speeded homewards with some of Cromwell's soldiers at his heels;and his wife, a lady of great courage, had scarcely concealedhim in the secret chamber when the enemy arrived to search thehouse. Little daunted, the lady, with great presence of mind, made noobjection whatever--indeed, facilitated their operations bypersonally conducting them over the mansion. Here, as in so manyother instances, the secret room was entered from the principalbedroom, and in inspecting the latter the suspicion of the Roundheadswas in some way or another aroused, so here they determined toremain for the rest of the night. An ample supper and a good store of wine (which, by the way, hadbeen carefully drugged) was sent up to the unwelcome visitors, and in due course the drink effected its purpose--its victimsdropped off one by one, until the whole party lay like logs uponthe floor. Mrs. Arthur Jones then crept in, having even to stepover the bodies of the inanimate Roundheads, released her husband, and a fresh horse being in readiness, by the time the effectsof the wine had worn off the Royalist captain was far beyondtheir reach. The secret room is located in the front of the building, and hasnow been converted into a very, comfortable little dressing-room, preserving its original oak panelling, and otherwise but littlealtered, with the exception of the entry to it, which is nowan ordinary door. Chastleton is the beau ideal of an ancestral hall. The grandold gabled house, with its lofty square towers, its Jacobeanentrance gateway and dovecote, and the fantastically clippedbox-trees and sun-dial of its quaint old-fashioned garden, possessesa charm which few other ancient mansions can boast, and thischarm lies in its perfectly unaltered state throughout, evento the minutest detail. Interior and exterior alike, everythingpresents an appearance exactly as it did when it was erectedand furnished by Walter Jones, Esquire, between the years 1603and 1630. The estate originally was held by Robert Catesby, whosold the house to provide funds for carrying on the notoriousconspiracy. Among its most valued relics is a Bible given by Charles I. Whenon the scaffold to Bishop Juxon, who lived at Little Compton manorhouse, near Chastleton. This Bible was always used by the bishopat the Divine services, which at one time were held in the greathall of the latter house. Other relics of the martyr-king usedto be at Little Compton--_viz. _ some beams of the Whitehallscaffold, whose exact position has occasioned so much controversy. The velvet armchair and footstool used by the King during hismemorable trial were also preserved here, but of late years havefound a home at Moreton-in-the-Marsh, some six miles away. Visitorsto that interesting collection shown in London some years ago--theStuart Exhibition--may remember this venerable armchair of suchsad association. [Illustration: CHASTLETON] [Illustration: ENTRANCE DOOR, CHASTLETON] It may be here stated that after Charles I. 's execution, Juxonlived for a time in Sussex at an old mansion still extant, AlbournePlace, not far from Hurstpierpoint. We mention this from thefact that a priest's hole was discovered there some few yearsago. It was found in opening a communication between two rooms, and originally it could only be reached by steps projecting fromthe inner walls of a chimney. Not many miles from Albourne stands Street Place, an ElizabethanSussex house of some note. A remarkable story of cavalier-huntingis told here. A hiding-place is said to have existed in the wideopen fireplace of the great hall. Tradition has it that a horseman, hard pressed by the Parliamentary troopers, galloped into thishall, but upon the arrival of his pursuers, no clue could befound of either man or horse! The gallant Prince Rupert himself, upon one occasion, is saidto have had recourse to a hiding hole, at least so the storyruns, at the beautiful old black-and-white timber mansion, ParkHall, near Oswestry. A certain "false floor" which led to it ispointed out in a cupboard of a bedroom, the hiding-place itselfbeing situated immediately above the dining-room fireplace. A concealed chamber something after the same description is tobe seen at the old seat of the Fenwicks, Wallington, inNorthumberland--a small room eight feet long by sixteen feet high, situated at the back of the dining-room fireplace, and approachedthrough the back of a cupboard. Behind one of the large panels of "the hall" of an old buildingin Warwick called St. John's Hospital is a hiding-place, and ina bedroom of the same house there is a little apartment, nowconverted into a dressing-room, which formerly could only bereached through a sliding panel over the fireplace. The manor house of Dinsdale-on-Tees, Durham, has another example, but to reach it it is necessary to pass through a trap-door inthe attics, crawl along under the roof, and drop down into the, space in the wall behind a bedroom fireplace, where for extrasecurity there is a second trap-door. [Illustration: BROUGHTON HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE] [Illustration: ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL, WARWICK] Full-length panel portraits of the Salwey family at Stanford Court, Worcestershire (unfortunately burned down in 1882), concealed hiddenrecesses and screened passages leading up to an exit in the leadsof the roof. In one of these recesses curious seventeenth-centurymanuscripts were found, among them, the household book of a certain"Joyce Jeffereys" during the Civil War. The old Jacobean mansion Broughton Hall, Staffordshire, had acurious hiding-hole over a fireplace and situated in the wallbetween the dining-room and the great hall; over its entranceused to hang a portrait of a man in antique costume which wentby the name of "Red Stockings. " At Lyme Hall, Cheshire, the ancient seat of the Leghs, high upin the wall of the hall is a sombre portrait which by ingeniousmechanism swings out of its frame, a fixture, and gives admittanceto a room on the first floor, or rather affords a means of lookingdown into the hall. [1] We mention this portrait more especiallybecause it has been supposed that Scott got his idea here ofthe ghostly picture which figures in _Woodstock_. A_bonâ-fide_ hiding-place, however, is to be seen in anotherpart of the mansion in a very haunted-looking bedroom called "theKnight's Chamber, " entered through a trap-door in the floor ofa cupboard, with a short flight of steps leading into it. [Footnote 1: A large panel in the long gallery of Hatfield can bepushed aside, giving a view into the great hall, and at Ockwellsand other ancient mansions this device may also be seen. ] Referring to Scott's novel, a word may be said about Fair Rosamond'sfamous "bower" at the old palace of Woodstock, surely the mostelaborate and complicated hiding-place ever devised. The ruinsof the labyrinth leading to the "bower" existed in Drayton'stime, who described them as "vaults, arched and walled with stoneand brick, almost inextricably wound within one another, by which, if at any time her [Rosamond's] lodging were laid about by theQueen, she might easily avoid peril imminent, and, if need be, bysecret issues take the air abroad many furlongs about Woodstock. " [Illustration: STAIRCASE, BROUGHTON HALL] In a survey taken in 1660, it is stated that foundation signsremained about a bow-shot southwest of the gate: "_The formand circuit both of the place and ruins show it to have been ahouse of one pile, and probably was filled with secret placesof recess and avenues to hide or convey away such persons aswere not willing to be found if narrowly sought after. _" Ghostly gambols, such as those actually practised upon theParliamentary Commissioners at the old palace of Woodstock, werefor years carried on without detection by the servants at the oldhouse of Hinton-Ampner, Hampshire; and when it was pulled downin the year 1797, it became very obvious how the mysteries, whichgave the house the reputation of being haunted, were managed, for numerous secret stairs and passages, not known to exist werebrought to light which had offered peculiar facilities for thedeception. About the middle of the eighteenth century the mansionpassed out of the hands of its old possessors, the Stewkeleys, and shortly afterwards became notorious for the unaccountablenoises which disturbed the peace of mind of the new tenants. Not only were there violent knocks, hammerings, groanings, andsounds of footsteps in the ceilings and walls, out strange sightsfrightened the servants out of their wits. A ghostly visitantdressed in drab would appear and disappear mysteriously, a femalefigure was often seen to rush through the apartments, and othersupernatural occurrences at length became so intolerable that theinmates of the house sought refuge in flight. Later successivetenants fared the same. A hundred pounds reward was offered toany who should run the ghosts to earth; but nothing resultedfrom it, and after thirty years or more of hauntings, the housewas razed to the ground. Secret passages and chambers were thenbrought to light; but those who had carried on the deceptionfor so long took the secret with them to their graves. [1] [Footnote 1: A full account of the supernatural occurrences atHinton-Ampner will be found in the Life of Richard Barham. ] It is well known that the huge, carved oak bedsteads of the sixteenthand seventeenth centuries were often provided with secretaccommodation for valuables. One particular instance we can callto mind of a hidden cupboard at the base of the bedpost whichcontained a short rapier. But of these small hiding-places weshall speak presently. It is with the head of the bed we havenow to do, as it was sometimes used as an opening into the wallat the back. Occasionally, in old houses, unmeaning gaps andspaces are met with in the upper rooms midway between floor andceiling, which possibly at one time were used as bed-headhiding-places. Shipton Court, Oxon, and Hill Hall, Essex, maybe given as examples. Dunster Castle, Somersetshire, also, hasat the back of a bedstead in one of the rooms a long, narrowplace of concealment, extending the width of the apartment, andprovided with a stone seat. Sir Ralph Verney, while in exile in France in 1645, wrote to hisbrother at Claydon House, Buckinghamshire, concerning "the oddthings in the room my mother kept herself--_the iron chest inthe little room between her bed's-head and the back stairs. _"This old seat of the Verneys had another secret chamber in themiddle storey, entered through a trap-door in "the muniment-room"at the top of the house. Here also was a small private staircasein the wall, possibly the "back stairs" mentioned in Sir Ralph'sletters. [1] [Footnote 1: See _Memoirs of the Verney Family. _] [Illustration: SHIPTON COURT, OXFORDSHIRE] [Illustration: BROUGHTON CASTLE, OXFORDSHIRE] Before the breaking out of the Civil War, Hampden, Pym, LordBrooke, and other of the Parliamentary leaders, held secret meetingsat Broughton Castle, oxon, the seat of Lord Saye and Sele, toorganise a resistance to the arbitrary measures of the king. Inthis beautiful old fortified and moated mansion the secret stairsmay yet be seen that led up to the little isolated chamber, withmassive casemated walls for the exclusion of sound. Anthony Wood, alluding to the secret councils, says: "Several years before theCivil War began, Lord Saye, being looked upon as the godfatherof that party, had meetings of them in his house at Broughton, where was a room and passage thereunto which his servants wereprohibited to come near. "[1] There is also a hiding-hole behinda window shutter in the wall of a corridor, with an air-holeingeniously devised in the masonry. [Footnote 1: _Memorials of Hampden. _] The old dower-house of Fawsley, not many miles to the north-eastof Broughton, in the adjoining county of Northamptonshire, hada secret room over the hall, where a private press was kept forthe purpose of printing political tracts at this time, when thecountry was working up into a state of turmoil. When the regicides were being hunted out in the early part ofCharles II. 's reign, Judge Mayne[1] secreted himself at his house, Dinton Hall, Bucks, but eventually gave himself up. The hiding-holeat Dinton was beneath the staircase, and accessible by removingthree of the steps. A narrow passage which led from it to a spacebehind the beams of the roof had its sides or walls thickly linedwith cloth, so as to muffle all sound. [Footnote 1: There is a tradition that it was a servant of Maynewho acted as Charles I. 's executioner. ] Bradshawe Hall, in north-west Derbyshire (once the seat of thefamily of that name of which the notorious President was a member), has or had a concealed chamber high up in the wall of a room onthe ground floor which was capable of holding three persons. Of course tradition says the "wicked judge was hidden here. " [Illustration: ENTRANCE GATE, BRADSHAWE HALL, DERBYSHIRE] The regicides Colonels Whalley and Goffe had many narrow escapesin America, whither they were traced. What is known as "Judge'sCave, " in the West Rock some two miles from the town of New Haven, Conn. , afforded them sanctuary. For some days they were concealedin an old house belonging to a certain Mrs. Eyers, in a secretchamber behind the wainscoting, the entrance to which was mostingeniously devised. The house was narrowly searched on May 14th, 1661, at the time they were in hiding. [1] [Footnote 1: Stiles's _Judges_, p. 64] Upon the discovery of the Rye House Plot in 1683, suspicion fallingupon one of the conspirators, William, third Lord Howard of Escrick, the Sergeant-at-Arms was despatched with a squadron of horse tohis house at Knights-bridge, and after a long search he wasdiscovered concealed in a hiding-place constructed in a chimneyat the back of a tall cupboard, and the chances are that he wouldnot have been arrested had it not been evident, by the warmth ofhis bed and his clothes scattered about, that he had only justrisen and could not have got away unobserved, except to someconcealed lurking-place. When discovered he had on no clothingbeyond his shirt, so it may be imagined with what precipitatehaste he had to hide himself upon the unexpected arrival of thesoldiers. [1] [Footnote 1: See Roger North's _Examen_. ] Numerous other houses were searched for arms and suspicious papers, particularly in the counties of Cheshire and Lancashire, wherethe Duke of Monmouth was known to have many influential friends, marked enemies to the throne. [2] [Footnote 2: See Oulton Hall MSS. , Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. Iii. P. 245. ] Monmouth's lurking-place was known at Whitehall, and those whorevealed it went the wrong way to work to win Court favour. Apartfrom the attractions of Lady Wentworth, whose companionship madethe fugitive's enforced seclusion at Toddington, in Bedfordshire, far from tedious, the mansion was desirable at that particulartime on account of its hiding facilities. An anonymous lettersent to the Secretary of State failed not to point out "thatvastness and intricacy that without a most diligent search it'simpossible to discover _all the lurking holes in it, there beingseverall trap dores on the leads and in closetts, into places towhich there is no other access. _"[1] The easy-going king hadto make some external show towards an attempt to capture hiserring son, therefore instructions were given with this purpose, but to a courtier and diplomatist who valued his own interests. Toddington Place, therefore, was _not_ explored. [Footnote 1: Vide King _Monmouth_. ] [Illustration: MOYLES COURT, HAMPSHIRE] [Illustration: TODDINGTON MANOR HOUSE, BEDFORDSHIRE, IN 1806 (FROMAN OLD DRAWING)] Few hiding-places are associated with so tragic a story as thatat Moyles Court, Hants, where the venerable Lady Alice Lisle, in pure charity, hid two partisans of Monmouth, John Hickes andRichard Nelthorpe, after the battle of Sedgemoor, for which humaneaction she was condemned to be burned alive by Judge Jeffreys--asentence commuted afterwards to beheading. It is difficult toassociate this peaceful old Jacobean mansion, and the simpletomb in the churchyard hard by, with so terrible a history. Adark hole in the wall of the kitchen is traditionally said to bethe place of concealment of the fugitives, who threw themselveson Lady Alice's mercy; but a dungeon-like cellar not unlike thatrepresented in E. M. Ward's well-known picture looks a much morelikely place. It was in an underground vault at Lady Place, Hurley, the oldseat of the Lovelaces, that secret conferences were held by theadherents of the Prince of Orange. Three years after the executionof the Duke of Monmouth, his boon companion and supporter, John, third Lord Lovelace, organised treasonable meetings in this tomb-likechamber. Tradition asserts that certain important documents infavour of the Revolution were actually signed in the Hurley vault. Be this as it may, King William III. Failed not, in after years, when visiting his former secret agent, to inspect the subterraneanapartment with very tender regard. CHAPTER IX JAMES II. 'S ESCAPES We have spoken of the old houses associated with Charles II. 'sescapes, let us see what history has to record of his unpopularbrother James. The Stuarts seem to have been doomed, at one timeor another, to evade their enemies by secret flight, and in somemeasure this may account for the romance always surrounding thatill-fated line of kings and queens. James V. Of Scotland was wont to amuse himself by donning a disguise, but his successors appear to have been doomed by fate to followhis example, not for recreation, but to preserve their lives. Mary, Queen of Scots, upon one occasion had to impersonate alaundress. Her grandson and great-grandson both were forced tomasquerade as servants, and her great-great-grandson Prince JamesFrederick Edward passed through France disguised as an abbé. The escapades of his son the "Bonnie Prince" will require ourattention presently; we will, therefore, for the moment confineour thoughts to James II. With the surrender of Oxford the young Prince James found himselfFairfax's prisoner. His elder brother Charles had been morefortunate, having left the city shortly before for the westerncounties, and after effecting his escape to Scilly, he soughtrefuge in Jersey, whence he removed to the Hague. The Duke ofGloucester and the Princess Elizabeth already had been placedunder the custody of the Earl of Northumberland at St. James'sPalace, so the Duke of York was sent there also. This was in 1646. Some nine months elapsed, and James, after two ineffectual attemptsto regain his liberty, eventually succeeded in the followingmanner. Though prisoners, the royal children were permitted to amusethemselves within the walls of the palace much as they pleased, and among the juvenile games with which they passed away thetime, "hide-and-seek" was first favourite. James, doubtless withan eye to the future, soon acquired a reputation as an experthider, and his brother and sister and the playmates with whomthey associated would frequently search the odd nooks and cornersof the old mansion in vain for an hour at a stretch. It was, therefore, no extraordinary occurrence on the night of April 20th, 1647, that the Prince, after a prolonged search, was missing. Theyoungsters, more than usually perplexed, presently persuaded theadults of the prison establishment to join in the game, which, when their suspicions were aroused, they did in real earnest. But all in vain, and at length a messenger was despatched toWhitehall with the intelligence that James, Duke of York, hadeffected his escape. Everything was in a turmoil. Orders werehurriedly dispatched for all seaport towns to be on the alert, and every exit out of London was strictly watched; meanwhile, it is scarcely necessary to add, the young fugitive was wellclear of the city, speeding on his way to the Continent. The plot had been skilfully planned. A key, or rather a duplicatekey, had given admittance through the gardens into St. James's Park, where the Royalist, though outwardly professed Parliamentarian, Colonel Bamfield was in readiness with a periwig and cloak toeffect a speedy disguise. When at length the fugitive made hisappearance, minus his shoes and coat, he was hurried into a coachand conveyed to the Strand by Salisbury House, where the twoalighted, and passing down Ivy Lane, reached the river, and afterJames's disguise had been perfected, boat was taken to Lyon Quayin Lower Thames Street, where a barge lay in readiness to carrythem down stream. So far all went well, but on the way to Gravesend the masterof the vessel, doubtless with a view to increasing his reward, raised some objections. The fugitive was now in female attire, and the objection was that nothing had been said about a womancoming aboard; but he was at length pacified, indeed ere longguessed the truth, for the Prince's lack of female decorum, asin the case of his grandson "the Bonnie Prince" nearly a centuryafterwards, made him guess how matters really stood. Beyond Gravesendthe fugitives got aboard a Dutch vessel and were carried safelyto Middleburg. We will now shift the scene to Whitehall in the year 1688, when, after a brief reign of three years, betrayed and deserted onall sides, the unhappy Stuart king was contemplating his secondflight out of England. The weather-cock that had been set up onthe banqueting hall to show when the wind "blew Protestant" hadduly recorded the dreaded approach of Dutch William, who now wassteadily advancing towards the capital. On Tuesday, December 10th, soon after midnight, James left the Palace by way of Chiffinch'ssecret stairs of notorious fame, and disguised as the servantof Sir Edward Hales, with Ralph Sheldon--La Badie--a page, andDick Smith, a groom, attending him, crossed the river to Lambeth, dropping the great seal in the water on the way, and took horse, avoiding the main roads, towards Farnborough and thence toChislehurst. Leaving Maidstone to the south-west, a brief haltwas made at Pennenden Heath for refreshment. The old inn, "theWoolpack, " where the party stopped for their hurried repast, remains, at least in name, for the building itself has of lateyears been replaced by a modern structure. Crossing the Doverroad, the party now directed their course towards Milton Creek, to the north-east of Sittingbourne, where a small fishing-craftlay in readiness, which had been chartered by Sir Edward Hales, whose seat at Tunstall[1] was close by. [Footnote 1: The principal seat of the Hales, near Canterbury, isnow occupied as a Jesuit College. The old manor house of Tunstall, Grove End Farm, presents both externally and internally manyfeatures of interest. The family was last represented by a maidlady who died a few years since. ] One or two old buildings in the desolate marsh district of Elmley, claim the distinction of having received a visit of the deposedmonarch prior to the mishaps which were shortly to follow. King'sHill Farm, once a house of some importance, preserves this tradition, as does also an ancient cottage, in the last stage of decay, known as "Rats' Castle. " [Illustration: "RATS' CASTLE, " ELMLEY, KENT] [Illustration: KING'S HILL FARM, ELMLEY, KENT] At Elmley Ferry, which crosses the river Swale, the king gotaboard, but scarcely had the moorings been cast than furtherprogress was arrested by a party of over-zealous fishermen onthe look out for fugitive Jesuit priests. The story of the roughhandling to which the poor king was subjected is a somewhat hackneyedschool-book anecdote, but some interesting details have been handeddown by one Captain Marsh, by James's natural son the Duke ofBerwick, and by the Earl of Ailesbury. From these accounts we gather that in the disturbance that ensueda blow was aimed at the King, but that a Canterbury innkeeper namedPlatt threw himself in the way and received the blow himself. Itis recorded, to James II. 's credit, that when he was recognisedand his stolen money and jewels offered back to him, he declinedthe former, desiring that his health might be drunk by the mob. Among the valuables were the King's watch, his coronation ring, and medals commemorating the births of his son the ChevalierSt. George and of his brother Charles II. The King was taken ashore at a spot called "the Stool, " closeto the little village of Oare, to the north-west of Faversham, to which town he was conveyed by coach, attended by a score ofKentish gentlemen on horseback. The royal prisoner was firstcarried to the "Queen's Arms Inn, " which still exists under thename of the "Ship Hotel. " From here he was taken to the mayor'shouse in Court Street (an old building recently pulled down tomake way for a new brewery) and placed under a strict guard, andfrom the window of his prison the unfortunate King had to listento the proclamation of the Prince of Orange, read by order of themayor, who subsequently was rewarded for the zeal he displayedupon the occasion. The hardships of the last twenty-four hours had told severely uponJames. He was sick and feeble and weakened by profuse bleedingof the nose, to which he, like his brother Charles, was subjectwhen unduly excited. Sir Edward Hales, in the meantime, was lodgedin the old Court Hall (since partially rebuilt), whence he wasremoved to Maidstone gaol, and to the Tower. Bishop Burnet was at Windsor with the Prince of Orange when twogentlemen arrived there from Faversham with the news of the King'scapture. "They told me, " he says, "of the accident at Faversham, and desired to know the Prince's pleasure upon it. I was affectedwith this dismal reverse of the fortunes of a great prince, morethan I think fit to express. I went immediately to Bentinck andwakened him, and got him to go in to the Prince, and let himknow what had happened, that some order might be presently givenfor the security of the King's person, and for taking him outof the hands of a rude multitude who said they would obey noorders but such as came from the Prince. " Upon receiving the news, William at once directed that hisfather-in-law should have his liberty, and that assistance shouldbe sent down to him immediately; but by this time the story hadreached the metropolis, and a hurried meeting of the Councildirected the Earl of Feversham to go to the rescue with a companyof Life Guards. The faithful Earl of Ailesbury also hastened tothe King's assistance. In five hours he accomplished the journeyfrom London to Faversham. So rapidly had the reports been circulatedof supposed ravages of the Irish Papists, that when the Earlreached Rochester, the entire town was in a state of panic, andthe alarmed inhabitants were busily engaged in demolishing thebridge to prevent the dreaded incursion. But to return to James at Faversham. The mariners who had handledhim so roughly now took his part--in addition to his property--andinsisted upon sleeping in the adjoining room to that in whichhe was incarcerated, to protect him from further harm. Earlyon Saturday morning the Earl of Feversham made his appearance;and after some little hesitation on the King's side, he was atlength persuaded to return to London. So he set out on horseback, breaking the journey at Rochester, where he slept on the Saturdaynight at Sir Richard Head's house. On the Sunday he rode on toDartford, where he took coach to Southwark and Whitehall. A temporaryreaction had now set in, and the cordial reception which greetedhis reappearance revived his hopes and spirits. This reaction, however, was but short-lived, for no sooner had the poor Kingretired to the privacy of his bed-chamber at Whitehall Palace, than an imperious message from his son-in-law ordered him toremove without delay to Ham House, Petersham. [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO SECRET PASSAGE, "ABDICATION HOUSE, "ROCHESTER] [Illustration: "ABDICATION HOUSE, " ROCHESTER] James objected strongly to this; the place, he said, was damp andunfurnished (which, by the way, was not the case if we may judgefrom Evelyn, who visited the mansion not long before, when it was"furnished like a great Prince's"--indeed, the same furnitureremains intact to this day), and a message was sent back that ifhe must quit Whitehall he would prefer to retire to Rochester, which wish was readily accorded him. CHAPTER X JAMES II. 'S ESCAPES (_continued_), HAM HOUSE, AND "ABDICATIONHOUSE" Tradition, regardless of fact, associates the grand old seatof the Lauderdales and Dysarts with King James's escape fromEngland. A certain secret staircase is still pointed out by whichthe dethroned monarch is said to have made his exit, and visitorsto the Stuart Exhibition a few years ago will remember a swordwhich, with the King's hat and cloak, is said to have been leftbehind when he quitted the mansion. Now there existed, not manymiles away, also close to the river Thames, _another_ HamHouse, which was closely associated with James II. , and it seems, therefore, possible, in fact probable, that the past associationsof the one house have attached themselves to the other. In Ham House, Weybridge, lived for some years the King's discardedmistress Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester. At the actualtime of James's abdication this lady was in France, but in theearlier part of his reign the King was a frequent visitor here. In Charles II. 's time the house belonged to Jane Bickerton, themistress and afterwards wife of the sixth Duke of Norfolk. Evelyndined there soon after this marriage had been solemnised. "TheDuke, " he says, "leading me about the house made no scruple ofshowing me all the hiding-places for the Popish priests and wherethey said Masse, for he was no bigoted Papist. " At the Duke'sdeath "the palace" was sold to the Countess of Dorchester, whosedescendants pulled it down some fifty years ago. The oak-panelledrooms were richly parquetted with "cedar and cyprus. " One of themuntil the last retained the name of "the King's Bedroom. " It had aprivate communication with a little Roman Catholic chapel in thebuilding. The attics, as at Compton Winyates, were called "theBarracks, " tradition associating them with the King's guards, whoare said to have been lodged there. Upon the walls hung portraitsof the Duchesses of Leeds and Dorset, of Nell Gwyn and the Countessherself, and of Earl Portmore, who married her daughter. Here alsoformerly was Holbein's famous picture, Bluff King Hal and theDukes of Suffolk and Norfolk dancing a minuet with Anne Boleynand the Dowager-Queens of France and Scotland. Evelyn saw thepainting in August, 1678, and records "the sprightly motion"and "amorous countenances of the ladies. " (This picture is now, or was recently, in the possession of Major-General Sotheby. ) A few years after James's abdication, the Earl of Ailesbury rentedthe house from the Countess, who lived meanwhile in a small houseadjacent, and was in the habit of coming into the gardens of thepalace by a key of admittance she kept for that purpose. Uponone of these occasions the Earl and she had a disagreement aboutthe lease, and so forcible were the lady's coarse expressions, for she never could restrain the licence of her tongue, that shehad to be ejected from the premises, whereupon, says Ailesbury, "she bade me go to my----King James, " with the assurance that"she would make King William spit on me. " [Illustration: MONUMENT OF SIR RICHARD HEAD] [Illustration: "RESTORATION HOUSE, " ROCHESTER] But to follow James II. 's ill-fortunes to Rochester, where he wasconveyed on the Tuesday at noon by royal barge, with an escort ofDutch soldiers, with Lords Arran, Dumbarton, etc. , in attendance--"asad sight, " says Evelyn, who witnessed the departure. The Kingrecognised among those set to guard him an old lieutenant of theHorse who had fought under him, when Duke of York, at the battleof Dunkirk. Colonel Wycke, in command of the King's escort, wasa nephew of the court painter Sir Peter Lely, who had owed hissuccess to the patronage of Charles II. And his brother. Thepart the Colonel had to act was a painful one, and he begged theKing's pardon. The royal prisoner was lodged for the night atGravesend, at the house of a lawyer, and next morning the journeywas continued to Rochester. The royalist Sir Richard Head again had the honour of actingas the King's host, and his guest was allowed to go in and outof the house as he pleased, for diplomatic William of Orangehad arranged that no opportunity should be lost for James tomake use of a passport which the Duke of Berwick had obtainedfor "a certain gentleman and two servants. " James's movements, therefore, were hampered in no way. But the King, ever suspicious, planned his escape from Rochester with the greatest caution andsecrecy, and many of his most attached and loyal adherents werekept in ignorance of his final departure. James's little courtconsisted of the Earls of Arran, Lichfield, Middleton, Dumbarton, and Ailesbury, the Duke of Berwick, Sir Stephen Fox, Major-GeneralSackville, Mr. Grahame, Fenton, and a few others. On the evening of the King's flight the company dispersed as wascustomary, when Ailesbury intimated, by removing his Majesty'sstockings, that the King was about to seek his couch. The Earlof Dumbarton retired with James to his apartment, who, when thehouse was quiet for the night, got up, dressed, and "by way ofthe back stairs, " according to the Stuart Papers, passed "throughthe garden, where Macdonald stayed for him, with the Duke ofBerwick and Mr. Biddulph, to show him the way to Trevanion'sboat. About twelve at night they rowed down to the smack, whichwas waiting without the fort at Sheerness. It blew so hard rightahead, and ebb tide being done before they got to the Salt Pans, that it was near six before they got to the smack. Captain Trevanionnot being able to trust the officers of his ship, they got onboard the _Eagle_ fireship, commanded by Captain Welford, on which, the wind and tide being against them, they stayed tilldaybreak, when the King went on board the smack. " On ChristmasDay James landed at Ambleteuse. Thus the old town of Rochester witnessed the departure of thelast male representative of the Stuart line who wore a crown. Twenty-eight years before, every window and gable end had beengaily bedecked with many coloured ribbons, banners, and flowersto welcome in the restored monarch. The picturesque old red brick"Restoration House" still stands to carry us back to the eventfulnight when "his sacred Majesty" slept within its walls upon hisway from Dover to London--a striking contrast to "AbdicationHouse, " the gloomy abode of Sir Richard Head, of more melancholyassociations. Much altered and modernised, this old mansion also remains. Itis in the High Street, and is now, or was recently, occupied as adraper's shop. Here may be seen the "presence-chamber" where thedethroned King heard Mass, and the royal bedchamber where, afterhis secret departure, a letter was found on the table addressedto Lord Middleton, for both he and Lord Ailesbury were kept inignorance of James II. 's final movements. The old garden maybe seen with the steps leading down to the river, much as itwas a couple of centuries ago, though the river now no longerflows in near proximity, owing to the drainage of the marshesand the "subsequent improvements" of later days. The hidden passage in the staircase wall may also be seen, andthe trap-door leading to it from the attics above. Tradition saysthe King made use of these; and if he did so, the probability isthat it was done more to avoid his host's over-zealous neighbours, than from fear of arrest through the vigilance of the spies ofhis son-in-law. [1] [Footnote 1: It may be of interest to state that the illustrationswe give of the house were originally exhibited at the StuartExhibition by Sir Robert G. Head, the living representative ofthe old Royalist family] Exactly three months after James left England he made hisreappearance at Kinsale and entered Dublin in triumphal state. The siege of Londonderry and the decisive battle of the Boynefollowed, and for a third and last time James II. Was a fugitivefrom his realms. The melancholy story is graphically told in Mr. A. C. Gow's dramatic picture, an engraving of which I understandhas recently been published. How the unfortunate King rode from Dublin to Duncannon Fort, leaving his faithful followers and ill-fortunes behind him; gotaboard the French vessel anchored there for his safety; and returnedonce more to the protection of the Grande Monarque at the palaceof St. Germain, is an oft-told story of Stuart ingratitude. [Illustration: ARMSCOT MANOR HOUSE, WORCESTERSHIRE] [Illustration: ENTRANCE GATE, ARMSCOT MANOR HOUSE] CHAPTER XI MYSTERIOUS ROOMS, DEADLY PITS, ETC. At the "Restoration House" previously mentioned there is a secretpassage in the wall of an upper room; but though the Merry Monarchis, according to popular tradition, credited with a monopoly ofhiding-places all over England, it is more than doubtful whetherhe had recourse to these exploits, in which he was so successfulin 1651, upon such a joyful occasion, except, indeed, throughsheer force of habit. Even Cromwell's name is connected with hiding-places! But itis difficult to conjecture upon what occasions his Excellencyfound it convenient to secrete himself, unless it was in hislater days, when he went about in fear of assassination. Hale House, Islington, pulled down in 1853, had a concealed recessbehind the wainscot over the mantel-piece, formed by the curveof the chimney. In this, tradition says, the Lord Protector washidden. Nor is this the solitary instance, for a dark hole inone of the gable ends of Cromwell House, Mortlake (taken down in1860), locally known as "Old Noll's Hole, " is said to have affordedhim temporary accommodation when his was life in danger. [1] Theresidence of his son-in-law Ireton (Cromwell House) at Highgatecontained a large secret chamber at the back of a cupboard inone of the upper rooms, and extended back twelve or fourteenfeet, but the cupboard has now been removed and the space at theback converted into a passage. [Footnote 1: See Faulkner's _History of Islington_. ] The ancient manor house of Armscot, in an old-world corner ofWorcestershire, contains in one of its gables a hiding-placeentered through a narrow opening in the plaster wall, not unlikethat at Ufton Court, and capable of holding many people. From thefact that George Fox was arrested in this house on October 17th, 1673, when he was being persecuted by the county magistrates, thestory has come down to the yokels of the neighbourhood that "oldGuy Fawkes, the first Quaker, " was hidden here! In his journal Foxmentions his arrest at Armscot after a "very large and preciousmeeting" in the barn close by; but we have no allusion to thehiding-place, for he appears to have been sitting in the parlourwhen Henry Parker, the Justice, arrived--indeed, George Fox wasnot the sort of man to have recourse to concealments, and owehis escape to a "priest's hole. " The suggestion of a sudden reverse in religious persecution drivinga Quaker to such an extremity calls to mind an old farmsteadwhere a political change from monarchy to commonwealth forcedPuritan and cavalier consecutively to seek refuge in the secretchamber. This narrow hiding-place, beside the spacious fire-place, is pointed out in an ancient house in the parish of Hinchford, in Eastern Essex. Even the notorious Judge Jeffreys had in his house facilitiesfor concealment and escape. His old residence in Delahay Street, Westminster, demolished a few years ago, had its secret panelin the wainscoting, but in what way the cruel Lord Chancellormade use of it does not transpire; possibly it may have beenutilised at the time of James II. 's flight from Whitehall. A remarkable discovery was made early in the last century at theElizabethan manor house of Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, only a portion of which remains incorporated in a modern structure. Upon removing some of the wallpaper of a passage on the secondfloor, the entrance to a room hitherto unknown was laid bare. Itwas a small apartment about eight feet square, and presented theappearance as if some occupant had just quitted it. A chair anda table within, each bore evidence of the last inmate. Over theback of the former hung a priest's black cassock, carelessly flungthere a century or more ago, while on the table stood an antiquetea-pot, cup, and silver spoon, the very tea leaves crumbled todust with age. On the same storey were two rooms known as "thechapel" and the "priest's room, " the names of which signify theformer use of the concealed apartment. Sir Walter Scott records a curious "find, " similar in many respectsto that at Bourton. In the course of some structural alterations toan ancient house near Edinburgh three unknown rooms were brought tolight, bearing testimony of their last inmate. One of them had beenoccupied as a bedroom. The clothing of the bed was disarranged, as if it had been slept in only a few hours previously, and closeby was an antique dressing-gown. How interesting it would be toknow some particulars of the sudden surprise which evidentlydrove the owner of the garment from his snug quarters--whetherhe effected his escape, or whether he was captured! The wallsof this buried chamber, if they could speak, had some curiousstory to relate. Not many years ago the late squire of East Hendred House, Berkshire, discovered the existence of a secret chamber in casually glancingover some ancient papers belonging to the house. "The littleroom, " as it was called, from its proximity to the chapel, hadno doubt been turned to good account during the penal laws ofElizabeth's reign, as the chamber itself and other parts of thehouse date from a much earlier period. Long after the palatial Sussex mansion of Cowdray was burnt down, the habitable remains (the keeper's lodge, in the centre of thepark) contained an ingenious hiding-place behind a fireplace ina bedroom, which was reached by a movable panel in a cupboard, communicating with the roof by a slender flight of steps. Itwas very high, reaching up two storeys, but extremely narrow, so much so that directly opposite a stone bench which stood ina recess for a seat, the wall was hollowed out to admit of theknees. When this secret chamber was discovered, it contained aniron chair, a quaint old brass lamp, and some manuscripts ofthe Montague family. The Cowdray tradition says that the fifthViscount was concealed in this hiding-place for a considerableperiod, owing to some dark crime he is supposed to have committed, though he was generally believed to have fled abroad. Secretnocturnal interviews took place between Lord Montague and hiswife in "My Lady's Walk, " an isolated spot in Cowdray Park. TheMontagues, now extinct, are said to have been very chary withreference to their Roman Catholic forefathers, and never allowedthe secret chamber to be shown. [1] [Footnote 1: See _History of a Great English House_. ] A weird story clings to the ruins of Minster Lovel Manor House, Oxfordshire, the ancient seat of the Lords Lovel. After the battleof Stoke, Francis, the last Viscount, who had sided with thecause of Simnel against King Henry VII. , fled back to his housein disguise, but from the night of his return was never seen orheard of again, and for nearly two centuries his disappearanceremained a mystery. In the meantime the manor house had beendismantled and the remains tenanted by a farmer; but a strangediscovery was made in the year 1708. A concealed vault was found, and in it, seated before a table, with a prayer-book lying openupon it, was the entire skeleton of a man. In the secret chamberwere certain barrels and jars which had contained food sufficientto last perhaps some weeks; but the mansion having been seizedby the King, soon after the unfortunate Lord Lovel is supposedto have concealed himself, the probability is that, unable toregain his liberty, the neglect or treachery of a servant ortenant brought about this tragic end. A discovery of this nature was made in 1785 in a hidden vaultat the foot of a stone staircase at Brandon Hall, Suffolk. Kingerby Hall, Lincolnshire, has a ghostly tradition of anunfortunate occupant of the hiding-hole near a fireplace beingintentionally fastened in so that he was stifled with the heat andsmoke; the skeleton was found years afterwards in this horribledeath-chamber. Bayons Manor, in the same county, has some very curious arrangementsfor the sake of secretion and defence. There is a room in one ofthe barbican towers occupying its entire circumference, but soeffectually hidden that its existence would never be suspected. In two of the towers are curious concealed stairs, and approaching"the Bishop's Tower" from the outer court or ballium, part ofa flight of steps can be raised like a drawbridge to preventsudden intrusion. [1] [Footnote 1: See Burke's _Visitation of Seats_, vol. I. ] A contributor to that excellent little journal _The Rambler_, unfortunately now extinct, mentions another very strange andweird device for security. "In the state-room of my castle, "says the owner of this death-trap, "is the family shield, whichon a part being touched, revolves, and a flight of steps becomesvisible. The first, third, fifth, and all odd steps are to betrusted, but to tread any of the others is to set in motion someconcealed machinery which causes the staircase to collapse, disclosing a vault some seventy feet in depth, down which theunwary are precipitated. " At Tyttenhanger House, Hertfordshire, and in the old manor houseof Newport, Isle of Wight (where the captive King Charles I. Spent some of his last melancholy days), there are rooms withpassages in the walls running completely round them. Similarpassages were found some years ago while making alterations toHighclere Castle Hampshire. The once magnificent Madeley Court, Salop[1] (now, alas! in thelast stage of desolation and decay, surrounded by coal-fields andundermined by pits), is honeycombed with places for concealmentand escape. A ruinous apartment at the top of the house, knownas "the chapel" (only a few years ago wainscoted to the ceilingand divided by fine old oak screen), contained a secret chamberbehind one of the panels. This could be fastened on the inside bya strong bolt. The walls of the mansion are of immense thickness, and the recesses and nooks noticeable everywhere were evidently atone time places of concealment; one long triangular recess extendsbetween two ruinous chambers (mere skeletons of past grandeur), and was no doubt for the purpose of reaching the basement fromthe first floor other than by the staircases. In the upper partof the house a dismal pit or well extends to the ground level, where it slants off in an oblique direction below the building, and terminates in a large pool or lake, after the fashion ofthat already described at Baddesley Clinton, in Warwickshire. [Footnote 1: This house must not be confused with "the Upper House, "connected with Charles II. 's wanderings. ] Everything points to the former magnificence of this mansion;the elaborate gate-house, the handsome stone porch, and eventhe colossal sundial, which last, for quaint design, can holdits own with those of the greatest baronial castles in Scotland. The arms of the Brooke family are to be seen emblazoned on thewalls, a member of whom, Sir Basil, was he who christened thehunting-lodge of the Giffards "Boscobel, " from the Italian words"bos co bello, " on account of its woody situation. It is longsince the Brookes migrated from Madeley--now close upon twocenturies. The deadly looking pits occasionally seen in ancient buildingsare dangerous, to say the least of it. They may be likened tothe shaft of our modern lift, with the car at the bottom andnothing above to prevent one from taking a step into eternity! A friend at Twickenham sends us a curious account of a recentexploration of what was once the manor house, "Arragon Towers. "We cannot do better than quote his words, written in answer to arequest for particulars. "I did not, " he says, "make sufficientexamination of the hiding-place in the old manor house of Twickenhamto give a detailed description of it, and I have no one herewhom I could get to accompany me in exploring it now. It is nota thing to do by one's self, as one might make a false step, and have no one to assist in retrieving it. The entrance is inthe top room of the one remaining turret by means of a movablepanel in the wall opposite the window. The panel displaced, yousee the top of a thick wall (almost on a line with the floor ofthe room). The width of the aperture is, I should think, nearlythree feet; that of the wall-top about a foot and a half; theremaining space between the wall-top and the outer wall of thehouse is what you might perhaps term 'a chasm'--it is a sheerdrop to the cellars of the house. I was told by the workmen thatby walking the length of the wall-top (some fifteen feet) I shouldreach a stairway conducting to the vaults below, and that onreaching the bottom, a passage led off in the direction of theriver, the tradition being that it actually went beneath theriver to Ham House. " CHAPTER XII HIDING-PLACES IN JACOBITE DWELLINGS AND IN SCOTTISH CASTLES ANDMANSIONS During the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745 some of the "priest'sholes" in the old Roman Catholic houses, especially in the northof England and in Scotland, came into requisition not only forstoring arms and ammunition, but, after the failure of eachenterprise, for concealing adherents of the luckless House ofStuart. In the earlier mansion of Worksop, Nottinghamshire (burnt downin 1761), there was a large concealed chamber provided with afireplace and a bed, which could only be entered by removingthe sheets of lead forming the roofing. Beneath was a trap-dooropening to a precipitous flight of narrow steps in the thicknessof a wall. This led to a secret chamber, that had an innerhiding-place at the back of a sliding panel. A witness in a trialsucceeding "the '45" declared to having seen a large quantityof arms there in readiness for the insurrection. The last days of the notorious Lord Lovat are associated withsome of the old houses in the north. Cawdor Castle, Nairnshire, and Netherwhitton, in Northumberland, claim the honour of hidingthis double-faced traitor prior to his arrest. At the former is asmall chamber near the roof, and in the latter is a hiding-placemeasuring eight feet by three and ten feet high. Nor must beforgotten the tradition of Mistress Beatrice Cope, behind thewalls of whose bedroom Lovat (so goes the story) was concealed, and the fugitive, being asthmatical, would have revealed hiswhereabouts to the soldiers in search of him, had not MistressCope herself kept up a persistent and violent fit of coughingto drown the noise. A secret room in the old Tudor house Ty Mawr, Monmouthshire, is associated with the Jacobite risings. It is at the back of"the parlour" fireplace, and is entered through a square stoneslab at the foot of the staircase. The chamber is provided with asmall fireplace, the flue of which is connected with the ordinarychimney, so as to conceal the smoke. The same sort of thing maybe seen at Bisham Abbey, Berks. Early in the last century a large hiding-place was found at DanbyHall, Yorkshire. It contained a large quantity of swords andpistols. Upwards of fifty sets of harness of untanned leather ofthe early part of the eighteenth century were further discovered, all of them in so good a state of preservation that they wereafterwards used as cart-horse gear upon the farm. No less than nine of the followers of "Bonnie Prince Charlie" aresaid to have been concealed in a secret chamber at Fetternear, Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, an old seat of the Leslys of Balquhane. Itwas situated in the wall behind a large bookcase with a glazedfront, a fixture in the room, the back of which could be madeto slide back and give admittance to the recess. Quite by accident an opening was discovered in a corner cupboardat an old house near Darlington. Certain alterations were inprogress which necessitated the removal of the shelves, but uponthis being attempted, they descended in some mysterious manner. The back of the cavity could then be pushed aside (that is tosay, when the secret of its mechanism was discovered), and ahiding-place opened out to view. It contained some tawdry ornamentsof Highland dress, which at one time, it was conjectured, belongedto an adherent of Prince Charlie. The old mansion of Stonyhurst, Lancashire, contained eighthiding-places. One of them, exactly like that at Fetternear, was at the back of a bookcase. A secret spring was discoveredwhich opened a concealed door in the wall. In the space behind, a quantity of James II. Guineas, a bed, a mattress, and a flaskof rum were found. A former student of this famous Jesuit college, who was instrumental in the discovery of a "priest's hole, " hasprovided us with the following particulars: "It would be toolong to tell you how I first discovered that in the floor ofmy bedroom, in the recess of the huge Elizabethan bay window, was a trap-door concealed by a thin veneering of oak; sufficeit say that with a companion I devoted a delightful half-holidayto stripping off the veneering and breaking the lock of thetrap-door. Between my floor and the ceiling of the long gallerybelow, was contrived a small room about five feet in height andthe size and shape of the bay window recess. In one corner ofthis hiding-hole was what seemed a walled-up doorway, and itoccurred to my companion and myself that we had heard some vagueold tradition that all this part of the house was riddled withsecret passages leading from one concealed chamber to another, but we did not seek to explore any farther. " In pulling down aportion of the college, a hollow beam was discovered that openedupon concealed hinges, used formerly for secreting articles ofvalue or sacred books and vessels; and during some alterationsto the central tower, over the main entrance to the mansion, a "priest's hole" was found, containing seven horse pistols, ready loaded and some of them richly ornamented with silver. Aview could be obtained from the interior of the hiding-place, in the same manner as that which we have described in the oldsummer-house at Salisbury; a small hole being devised in the designof the Sherburn arms upon the marble shield over the gateway. This was the only provision for air and light. The quaint discovery of rum at Stonyhurst suggests the storyof a hiding-place in an old house at Bishops Middleham, nearDurham, mentioned by Southey in his _Commonplace Book_. The house was occupied for years by a supposed total abstainer;but a "priest's hole" in his bedroom, discovered after his deathfull of strong liquor, revealed the fact that by utilising thereceptacle as a cellar he had been able to imbibe secretly tohis heart's content. A large quantity or Georgian gold coins were found some years agoin a small hiding-place under the oaken sill of a bedroom windowat Gawthorp Hall, Lancashire, placed there, it is supposed, forthe use of Prince Charles's army in passing through the countryin 1745. The laird of Belucraig (an old mansion in the parish of Aboyne, Aberdeenshire) was concealed after "the '45" in his own house, while his wife, like the hostess of Chastleton, hospitablyentertained the soldiers who were in search of him. The secretchamber where he was concealed was found some years ago in makingsome alterations to the roof. In it were a quantity of Jacobitepapers and a curious old arm-chair. The original entry was througha panel at the back of a "box bed" in the wainscot of a small, isolated bedroom at the top of the house. The room itself couldonly be reached by a secret staircase from a corridor below. Thehiding-place was therefore doubly secure, and was a stronghold incase of greatest emergency. The Innes of Drumgersk and Belucraig werealways staunch Roman Catholics and Jacobites. Their representativeslived in the old house until 1850. In another old Aberdeenshire mansion, Dalpersie House, a hiding-holeor recess may be seen in one of the upper chambers, where wasarrested a Gordon, one of the last victims executed after "the45. " The ancient castles of Fyvie, Elphinstone, and Kemnay House havetheir secret chambers. The first of these is, with the exceptionof Glamis, perhaps, the most picturesque example of the tall-roofedand cone-topped turret style of architecture introduced fromFrance in the days of James VI. A small space marked "the armoury"in an old plan of the building could in no way be accounted for, it possessing neither door, window, nor fireplace; a trap-door, however, was at length found in the floor immediately above itssupposed locality which led to its identification. At Kemnay(Aberdeenshire) the hiding-place is in the dining-room chimney;and at Elphinstone (East Lothian), in the bay of a window ofthe great hall, is a masked entrance to a narrow stair in thethickness of the wall leading to a little room situated in thenortheast angle of the tower; it further has an exit through atrap-door in the floor of a passage in the upper part of thebuilding. The now ruinous castle of Towie Barclay, near Banff, has evidencesof secret ways and contrivances. Adjoining the fireplace of thegreat hall is a small room constructed for this purpose. In thewall of the same apartment is also a recess only to be reached bya narrow stairway in the thickness of the masonry, and approachedfrom the flooring above the hall. A similar contrivance existsbetween the outer and inner walls of the dining hall of CarewCastle, Pembrokeshire. Coxton Tower, near Elgin, contains a singular provision forcommunication from the top of the building to the basement, perfectlyindependent of the staircase. In the centre of each floor is asquare stone which, when removed, reveals an opening from thesummit to the base of the tower, through which a person couldbe lowered. Another curious old Scottish mansion, famous for its secret chambersand passages, is Gordonstown. Here, in the pavement of a corridorin the west wing, a stone may be swung aside, beneath which isa narrow cell scooped out of one of the foundation walls. Itmay be followed to the adjoining angle, where it branches offinto the next wall to an extent capable of holding fifty or sixtypersons. Another large hiding-place is situated in one of therooms at the back of a tall press or cupboard. The space in thewall is sufficiently large to contain eight or nine people, andentrance to it is effected by unloosing a spring bolt under thelower shelf, when the whole back of the press swings aside. Whether the mystery of the famous secret room at Glamis Castle, Forfarshire, has ever been solved or satisfactorily explainedbeyond the many legends and stories told in connection with it, we have not been able to determine. The walls in this remarkableold mansion are in parts over twelve feet thick, and in them areseveral curious recesses, notably near the windows of the "stonehall. " The secret chamber, or "Fyvie-room, " as it is sometimescalled, is said to have a window, which nevertheless has notled to the identification of its situation. Sir Walter Scottonce slept a night at Glamis, and has described the "wild andstraggling arrangement of the accommodation within doors. " "Iwas conducted, " he says, "to my apartment in a distant cornerof the building. I must own, as I heard door after door shutafter my conductor had retired, I began to consider myself toofar from the living and somewhat too near the dead--in a word, I experienced sensations which, though not remarkable either fortimidity or superstition, did not fail to affect me to the pointof being disagreeable. " We have the great novelist's authorityfor saying that the entrance of the secret chamber (in his time, at any rate), by the law or custom of the family, couldbe known to three persons at once--_viz. _ the Earl ofStrathmore, his heir-apparent, and any third person whom theymight take into their confidence. The great mystery of the secret chamber was imparted to the heirof Glamis, or the heir-presumptive, as the case might be, upon theeve of his arriving at his majority, and thus it passed into moderntimes from the dim and distant feudal days. That the secret shouldbe thus handed down through centuries without being divulged isindeed remarkable, yet so is the story; and many a time a futurelord of Glamis has boasted that he would reveal everything whenhe should come of age. Still, however, when that time _did_arrive, in every case the recipient of the deadly secret hassolemnly refused point blank to speak a word upon the subject. There is a secret chamber at the old Cumberland seat of the ancientfamily of Senhouse. To this day its position is known only bythe heir-at-law and the family solicitor. This room at NetherHall is said to have no window, and has hitherto baffled everyattempt of those not in the secret to discover its whereabouts. Remarkable as this may seem in these prosaic days, it has beenconfirmed by the present representative of the family, who, in acommunication to us upon the subject, writes as follows: "It maybe romantic, but still it is true that the secret has survivedfrequent searches of visitors. There is no one alive who hasbeen in it, that I am aware, except myself. " Brandeston Hall, Suffolk, is also said to have a hiding place known only to twoor three persons. CHAPTER XIII CONCEALED DOORS, SUBTERRANEAN PASSAGES, ETC. Numerous old houses possess secret doors, passages, andstaircases--Franks, in Kent; Eshe Hall, Durham; Binns House, Scotland; Dannoty Hall, and Whatton Abbey, Yorkshire; are examples. The last of these has a narrow flight of steps leading down tothe moat, as at Baddesley Clinton. The old house Marks, nearRomford, pulled down in 1808 after many years of neglect anddecay--as well as the ancient seat of the Tichbournes in Hampshire, pulled down in 1803--and the west side of Holme Hall, Lancashire, demolished in the last century, proved to have been riddled withhollow walls. Secret doors and panels are still pointed out atBramshill, Hants (in the long gallery and billiard-room); theoak room, Bochym House, Cornwall; the King's bedchamber, FordCastle, Northumberland; the plotting-parlour of the White HartHotel, Hull; Low Hall, Yeadon, Yorkshire; Sawston; the Queen'schamber at Kimbolton Castle, Huntingdonshire, etc. , etc. A concealed door exists on the left-hand side of the fireplaceof the gilt room of Holland House, Kensington, associated bytradition with the ghost of the first Lord Holland. Upon theauthority of the Princess Lichtenstein, it appears there is, close by, a blood-stain which nothing can efface! It is to behoped no enterprising person may be induced to try his skill herewith the success that attended a similar attempt at Holyrood, as recorded by Scott![1] [Footnote 1: _Vide_ Introduction to _The Fair Maid ofPerth_] In the King's writing-closet at Hampton Court may be seen the"secret door" by which William III. Left the palace when he wishedto go out unobserved; but this is more of a _private_ exitthan a _secret_ one. [Illustration: WOODSTOCK PALACE, OXFORDSHIRE (FROM AN OLD PRINT)] [Illustration: MARKYATE CELL, HERTFORDSHIRE] The old Château du Puits, Guernsey, has a hiding-hole placedbetween two walls which form an acute angle; the one constitutingpart of the masonry of an inner courtyard, the other a wall onthe eastern side of the main structure. The space between couldbe reached through the floor of an upper room. Cussans, in his _History of Hertfordshire_, gives a curiousaccount of the discovery of an iron door up the kitchen chimneyof the old house Markyate Cell, near Dunstable. A short flightof steps led from it to another door of stout oak, which openedby a secret spring, and led to an unknown chamber on the groundlevel. Local tradition says this was the favourite haunt of acertain "wicked Lady Ferrers, " who, disguised in male attire, robbed travellers upon the highway, and being wounded in oneof these exploits, was discovered lying dead outside the wallsof the house; and the malignant nature of this lady's spectreis said to have had so firm a hold upon the villagers that nolocal labourer could be induced to work upon that particularpart of the building. Beare Park, near Middleham, Yorkshire, had a hiding-hole enteredfrom the kitchen chimney, as had also the Rookery Farm, nearCromer; West Coker Manor House; and The Chantry, at Ilminster, both in Somerset. At the last named, in another hiding-place inthe room above, a bracket or credence-table was found, whichis still preserved. Many weird stories are told about Bovey House, South Devon, situatednear the once notorious smuggling villages of Beer and Branscombe. Upon removing some leads of the roof a secret room was found, furnished with a chair and table. The well here is remarkable, and similar to that at Carisbrooke, with the exception that twopeople take the place of the donkey! Thirty feet below the groundlevel there is said to have been a hiding-place--a large cavitycut in the solid rock. Many years ago a skeleton of a man wasfound at the bottom. Such dramatic material should suggest to somesensational novelist a tragic story, as the well and lime-walk atIngatestone is said to have suggested _Lady Audley's Secret_. A hiding-place something after the same style existed in the nowdemolished manor house of Besils Leigh, Berks. Down the shaftof a chimney a cavity was scooped out of the brickwork, to whicha refugee had to be lowered by a rope. One of the towers of thewest gate of Bodiam Castle contains a narrow square well in thewall leading to the ground level, and, as the guide was wontto remark, "how much farther the Lord only knows"! This sortof thing may also be seen at Mancetter Manor, Warwickshire, andIghtham Moat, Kent, both approached by a staircase. A communication formerly ran from a secret chamber in theoak-panelled dining-room of Birtsmorton Court, Worcestershire, to a passage beneath the moat that surrounds the structure, andthence to an exit on the other side of the water. During the Warsof the Roses Sir John Oldcastle is said to have been concealedbehind the secret panel; but now the romance is somewhat marred, for modern vandalism has converted the cupboard into a repositoryfor provisions. The same indignity has taken place at that splendidold timber house in Cheshire, Moreton Hall, where a secret room, provided with a sleeping-compartment, situated over the kitchen, has been modernised into a repository for the storing of cheeses. From the hiding-place the moat could formerly be reached, downa narrow shaft in the wall. Chelvey Court, near Bristol, contained two hiding-places; one, at the top of the house, was formerly entered through a panel, the other (a narrow apartment having a little window, and aniron candle-holder projecting from the wall) through the floorof a cupboard. [1] Both the panel and the trap-door are now doneaway with, and the tradition of the existence of the secret roomsalmost forgotten, though not long since we received a letterfrom an antiquarian who had seen them thirty years before, andwho was actually entertaining the idea of making practicalinvestigations with the aid of a carpenter or mason, to which, as suggested, we were to be a party; the idea, however, was nevercarried out. [Footnote 1: See _Notes and Queries_, September, 1855. ] [Illustration: BIRTSMORTON COURT, WORCESTERSHIRE] [Illustration: PORCH, CHELVEY COURT, SOMERSETSHIRE] Granchester Manor House, Cambridgeshire, until recently possessedthree places of concealment. Madingley Hall, in the sameneighbourhood, has two, one of them entered from a bedroom on thefirst floor, has a space in the thickness of the wall high enoughfor a man to stand upright in it. The manor house of Woodcote, Hants, also possessed two, which were each capable of holding fromfifteen to twenty men, but these repositories are now openedout into passages. One was situated behind a stack of chimneys, and contained an inner hiding-place. The "priests' quarters"in connection with the hiding-places are still to be seen. Harborough Hall, Worcestershire, has two "priests' holes, " onein the wall of the dining-room, the other behind a chimney inan upper room. The old mansion of the Brudenells, in Northamptonshire, DeenePark, has a large secret chamber at the back of the fireplacein the great hall, sufficiently capacious to hold a score ofpeople. Here also a hidden door in the panelling leads towardsa subterranean passage running in the direction of the ruinoushall of Kirby, a mile and a half distant. In a like manner apassage extended from the great hall of Warleigh, an Elizabethanhouse near Plymouth, to an outlet in a cliff some sixty yardsaway, at whose base the tidal river flows. Speke Hall, Lancashire (perhaps the finest specimen extant ofthe wood-and-plaster style of architecture nicknamed "Magpie "), formerly possessed a long underground communication extendingfrom the house to the shore of the river Mersey; a member ofthe Norreys family concealed a priest named Richard Brittainhere in the year 1586, who, by this means, effected his escapeby boat. The famous secret passage of Nottingham Castle, by which theyoung King Edward III. And his loyal associates gained accessto the fortress and captured the murderous regent and usurperMortimer, Earl of March, is known to this day as "Mortimer'sHole. " It runs up through the perpendicular rock upon which thecastle stands, on the south-east side from a place called Brewhouseyard, and has an exit in what was originally the courtyard of thebuilding. The Earl was seized in the midst of his adherents andretainers on the night of October 19th, 1330, and after a skirmish, notwithstanding the prayers and entreaties of his paramour QueenIsabella, he was bound and carried away through the passage inthe rock, and shortly afterwards met his well-deserved death onthe gallows at Smithfield. But what ancient castle, monastery, or hall has not its traditionalsubterranean passage? Certainly the majority are mythical; still, there are some well authenticated. Burnham Abbey, Buckinghamshire, for example, or Tenterden Hall, Hendon, had passages which havebeen traced for over fifty yards; and one at Vale Royal, Nottinghamshire, has been explored for nearly a mile. In theolder portions in both of the great wards of Windsor Castle archedpassages thread their way below the basement, through the chalk, and penetrate to some depth below the site of the castle ditchat the base of the walls. [1] In the neighbourhood of Riponsubterranean passages have been found from time to time--tunnelsof finely moulded masonry supposed to have been connected atone time with Fountains Abbey. [Footnote 1: See Marquis of Lorne's (Duke of Argyll) _Governor'sGuide to Windsor_. ] A passage running from Arundel Castle in the direction of Amberleyhas also been traced for some considerable distance, and a man anda dog have been lost in following its windings, so the entranceis now stopped up. About three years ago a long underground waywas discovered at Margate, reaching from the vicinity of TrinityChurch to the smugglers' caves in the cliffs; also at Port Leven, near Helston, a long subterranean tunnel was discovered leading tothe coast, no doubt very useful in the good old smuggling days. At Sunbury Park, Middlesex, was found a long vaulted passage somefive feet high and running a long way under the grounds. Numerousother examples could be stated, among them at St. Radigund'sAbbey, near Dover; Liddington Manor House, Wilts; the Bury, Rickmansworth; "Sir Harry Vane's House, " Hampstead, etc. , etc. CHAPTER XIV MINIATURE HIDING-HOLES FOR VALUABLES, ETC. Small hidden recesses for the concealment of valuables orcompromising deeds, etc. , behind the wainscoting of ancient houses, frequently come to light. Many a curious relic has been discoveredfrom time to time, often telling a strange or pathetic storyof the past. A certain Lady Hoby, who lived at Bisham Abbey, Berkshire, is said by tradition to have caused the death of herlittle boy by too severe corporal punishment for his obstinacyin learning to write, A grim sequel to the legend happened notlong since. Behind a window shutter in a small secret cavityin the wall was found an ancient, tattered copy-book, which, from the blots and its general slovenly appearance, was no doubtthe handiwork of the unfortunate little victim to Lady Hoby'swrath. When the old manor house of Wandsworth was pulled down recently, upon removing some old panelling a little cupboard was discovered, full of dusty phials and mouldy pill-boxes bearing the names ofpoor Queen Anne's numerous progeny who died in infancy. Richard Cromwell spent many of his later years at Hursley, nearWinchester, an old house now pulled down. In the progress ofdemolition what appeared to be a piece of rusty metal was foundin a small cavity in one of the walls, which turned out to beno less important a relic than the seal of the Commonwealth ofEngland. Walford, in _Greater London_, mentions the discovery ofsome articles of dress of Elizabeth's time behind the wainscotof the old palace of Richmond, Surrey. Historical portraits havefrequently been found in this way. Behind the panelling in alarge room at the old manor house of Great Gaddesden, Herts, were a number of small aumbrys, or recesses. A most interestingpanel-portrait of Queen Elizabeth was found in one of them, whichwas exhibited at the Tudor Exhibition. In 1896, when the houseof John Wesley at Lewisham was pulled down, who should be foundbetween the walls but the amorous Merry Monarch and a court beauty!The former is said to be Riley's work. Secretary Thurloe's MSS. , as is well known, were found embedded in a ceiling of his lodgingsat Lincoln's Inn. In pulling down a block of old buildings inNewton Street, Holborn, a hidden space was found in one of thechimneys, and there, covered with the dust of a century, laya silver watch, a silk guard attached, and seals bearing theLovat crest. The relic was promptly claimed by Mr. John Fraser, the claimant to the long-disputed peerage. [1] [Footnote 1: December 14th, 1895. ] Small hiding-places have been found at the manor house of ChewMagna, Somerset, and Milton Priory, a Tudor mansion in Berkshire. In the latter a green shagreen case was found containing aseventeenth-century silver and ivory pocket knife and fork. Asmall hiding-place at Coughton Court, Warwickshire, brought tolight a bundle of priest's clothes, hidden there in the daysof religious persecution. In 1876 a small chamber was found atSanderstead Court, Surrey, containing a small blue-and-white jarof Charles I. 's time. Three or four small secret repositoriesexisted behind some elaborately carved oak panels in the greathall of the now ruinous Harden Hall, near Stockport. In similarrecesses at Gawdy Hall, Suffolk, were discovered two ancientapostle spoons, a watch, and some Jacobean MSS. A pair of glovesand some jewels of seventeenth-century date were brought to lightnot many years ago in a secret recess at Woodham Mortimer ManorHouse, Essex. A very curious example of a hiding-place for valuablesformerly existed at an old building known as Terpersie Castle, near Alford, Lincolnshire. The sides of it were lined with stoneto preserve articles from damp, and it could be drawn out ofthe wall like a drawer. In the year 1861 a hidden receptacle was found at the Elizabethancollege of Wedmore, Kent, containing Roman Catholic MSS. Andbooks; and at Bromley Palace, close by, in a small aperture belowthe floor, was found the leathern sole of a pointed shoe of theMiddle Ages! Small hiding-places of this nature existed in awing, now pulled down, of the Abbey House, Whitby (in "Lady Anne'sRoom"). At Castle Ashby, Northants; Fountains Hall, near Ripon;Ashes House, near Preston; Trent House, Somerset; and Ockwells, Berks, [1] are panels opening upon pivots and screening smallcavities in the walls. [Footnote 1: Another hiding-place is said to have existed behindthe fireplace of the hall. ] [Illustration: HURSTMONCEAUX CASTLE, SUSSEX] CHAPTER XV HIDING-PLACES OF SMUGGLERS AND THIEVES Horsfield, in his _History of Sussex_, gives a curious accountof the discovery in 1738 of an iron chest in a recess of a wall atthe now magnificent ruin Hurstmonceaux Castle. In the thicknessof the walls were many curious staircases communicating with thegalleries. When the old castle was allowed to fall into ruin, the secret passages, etc. , were used by smugglers as a convenientreceptacle for contraband goods. Until recently there was an ingenious hiding-place behind a slidingpanel at the old "Bell Inn" at Sandwich which had the reputationof having formerly been put to the same use; indeed, in manyanother old house near the coast were hiding-places utilised fora like purpose. In pulling down an old house at Erith in 1882 a vault was discoveredwith strong evidence that it had been extensively used for smuggling. The pretty village of Branscombe, on the Devonshire coast, was, like the adjacent village of Beer, a notorious place for smugglers. "The Clergy House, " a picturesque, low-built Tudor building(condemned as being insecure and pulled down a few years ago), had many mysterious stories told of its former occupants, itsunderground chambers and hiding-places; indeed, the villagerswent so far as to declare that there was _another house_beneath the foundations! A secret chamber was discovered at the back of a fireplace in anold house at Deal, from which a long underground passage extendedto the beach. The house was used as a school, and the unearthlynoises caused by the wind blowing up this smugglers' passagecreated much consternation among the young lady pupils. A ladyof our acquaintance remembers, when a schoolgirl at Rochester, exploring part of a vaulted tunnel running in the direction ofthe castle from Eastgate House, which in those days was a school, and had not yet received the distinction of being the "Nun'sHouse" of _Edwin Drood_. Some way along, the passage wasblocked by the skeleton of a donkey! Our informant is not givento romancing, therefore we must accept the story in good faith. All round the coast-line of Kent once famous smuggling buildingsare still pointed out. Movable hollow beams have been foundsupporting cottage ceilings, containing all kinds of contrabandgoods. In one case, so goes the story, a customs house officerin walking through a room knocked his head, and the tell-talehollow sound (from the beam, not from his head, we will presume)brought a discovery. At Folkestone, tradition says, a long rowof houses used for the purpose had the cellars connected onewith the other right the way along, so that the revenue officerscould be easily evaded in the case of pursuit. The modern utility of a convenient secret panel or trap-dooroccasionally is apparent from the police-court reports. The tenementsin noted thieves' quarters are often found to haveintercommunication; a masked door will lead from one house tothe other, and trap-doors will enable a thief to vanish fromthe most keen-sighted detective, and nimbly thread his way overthe roofs of the neighbouring houses. There was a case in thepapers not long since; a man, being closely chased, was on thepoint of being seized, when, to the astonishment of his pursuers, he suddenly disappeared at a spot where apparently he had beenclosely hemmed in. Many old houses in Clerkenwell were, sixty or seventy years ago, notorious thieves' dens, and were noted for their hiding-places, trap-doors, etc. , for evading the vigilance of the law. The nameof Jack Sheppard, as may be supposed, had connection with themajority. One of these old buildings had been used in formeryears as a secret Jesuits' college, and the walls were threadedwith masked passages and places of concealment; and when the old"Red Lion Inn" in West Street was pulled down in 1836, some artfultraps and false floors were discovered which tarried well withits reputation as a place of rendezvous and safety for outlaws. The "Rising Sun" in Holywell Street is a curious example, therebeing many false doors and traps in various parts of the house;also in the before-mentioned Newton Street a panel could be raisedby a pulley, through which a fugitive or outlaw could effect hisescape on to the roof, and thence into the adjoining house. One of the simplest and most secure hiding-places perhaps everdevised by a law-breaker was that within a water-butt! A cone-shapedrepository, entered from the bottom, would allow a man to sitwithin it; nevertheless, to all intents and purposes the buttwas kept full of water, and could be apparently emptied from atap at its base, which, of course, was raised from the groundto admit the fugitive. We understand such a butt is still inexistence somewhere in Yorkshire. A "secret staircase" in Partingdale House, Mill Hill, is associated(by tradition) with the notorious Dick Turpin, perhaps because ofits proximity to his haunts upon Finchley Common. As it existsnow, however, there is no object for secrecy, the staircase leadingmerely to the attics, and its position can be seen; but the dooris well disguised in a Corinthian column containing a secretspring. Various alterations have taken place in this house, soonce upon a time it may have had a deeper meaning than is nowperceptible. Another supposed resort of this famous highwayman is an old ivy-growncottage at Thornton Heath. Narrow steps lead up from the openchimney towards a concealed door, from which again steps descendand lead to a subterranean passage having an exit in the garden. [Illustration: BOVEY HOUSE, SOUTH DEVON] [Illustration: MAPLEDURHAM HOUSE, OXFORDSHIRE] We do not intend to go into the matter of modern secret chambers, and there are such things, as some of our present architects andbuilders could tell us, for it is no uncommon thing to designhiding-places for the security of valuables. For instance, weknow of a certain suburban residence, built not more than thirtyyears ago, where one of the rooms has capacities for swallowingup a man six feet high and broad in proportion. We have known sucha person--or shall we say victim?--to appear after a temporaryabsence, of say, five minutes, with visible signs of discomfort;but as far as we are aware the secret is as safe in his keepingas is the famous mystery in the possession of the heir of Glamis. An example of a sliding panel in an old house in Essex (nearBraintree) was used as a pattern for the entrance to a modernsecret chamber;[1] and no doubt there are many similar instanceswhere the ingenuity of our ancestors has thus been put to usefor present-day requirements. [Footnote 1: According to the newspaper reports, the recentlyrecovered "Duchess of Devonshire, " by Gainsborough, was for sometime secreted behind a secret panel in a sumptuous steam-launchup the river Thames, from whence it was removed to America ina trunk with a false bottom. ] Our collection of houses with hiding-holes is now coming to anend. We will briefly summarise those that remain unrecorded. "New Building" at Thirsk has, or had, a secret chamber measuringthree feet by six. Upon the outside wall on the east side ofthe house is a small aperture into which a stone fitted withsuch nicety that no sign of its being movable could possibly bedetected; at the same time, it could be removed with the greatestease in the event of its being necessary to supply a person inhiding with food. Catledge Hall, Cambridgeshire, has a small octangular closetadjoining a bedroom, from which formerly there was a secret wayon to the leads of the roof. [Illustration: MAPLEDURHAM HOUSE, OXFORDSHIRE] [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO SECRET STAIRCASE, PARTINGDALE HOUSE, MILL-HILL, MIDDLESEX] At Dunkirk Hall, near West Bromwich, is a "priest's hole" in theupper part of the house near "the chapel, " which is now dividedinto separate rooms. Mapledurham House, axon, the old seat of the Blounts, containsa "priest's hole" in the attics, descent into which could bemade by the aid of a rope suspended for that purpose. Upton Court, near Slough, possesses a "priest's hole, " enteredfrom a fireplace, provided with a double flue--one for smoke, the other for ventilation to the hiding-place. Knebworth House, Hertfordshire, formerly had a secret chamberknown as "Hell Hole. " Eastgate House, Rochester (before mentioned), has a hiding-placein one of the upstairs rooms. It has, however, been altered. Milsted Manor, Kent, is said to have a secret exit from the library;and Sharsted Court (some three miles distant) has a cleverlymarked panel in the wainscoting of "the Tapestry Dressing-room, "which communicates by a very narrow and steep flight of stepsin the thickness of the wall with "the Red Bedroom. " The "Clough Inn, " Chard, Somersetshire, is said by tradition tohave possessed three secret rooms! Cawdor Castle, Nairnshire--a hiding-place formerly in "the tower. "Bramhall Hall, Cheshire--two secret recesses were discoverednot long ago during alterations. The following also containhiding-places:--Hall-i'-the-wood, Bolling Hall, Mains Hall, andHuncoat Hall, all in Lancashire; Drayton House, Northants; PackingtonOld Hall, Warwickshire; Batsden Court, Salop; Melford Hall, Suffolk, Fyfield House, Wilts; "New Building, " Southwater, Sussex; BarshamRectory, Suffolk; Porter's Hall, Southend, Essex; Kirkby KnowleCastle and Barnborough Hall, Yorkshire; Ford House, Devon; Cothele, Cornwall; Hollingbourne Manor House, Kent (altered of late years);Salisbury Court, near Shenley, Herts. Of hiding-places and secret chambers in the ancient castles andmansions upon the Continent we know but little. Two are said to exist in an old house in the Hradschin in Prague--onecommunicating from the foundation to the roof "by a windlass orturnpike. " A subterranean passage extends also from the housebeneath the street and the cathedral, and is said to have itsexit in the Hirch Graben, or vast natural moat which bounds thechâteau upon the north. A lady of our acquaintance remembers her feeling of awe when, as a school-girl, she was shown a hiding-place in an old mansionnear Baden-Baden--a huge piece of stone masonry swinging asideupon a pivot and revealing a gloomy kind of dungeon behind. The old French châteaux, according to Froisart, were rarely withoutsecret means of escape. King Louis XVI. , famous for his mechanicalskill, manufactured a hiding-place in an inner corridor of hisprivate apartments at the Palace of Versailles. The wall whereit was situated was painted to imitate large stones, and thegrooves of the opening were cleverly concealed in the shadedrepresentations of the divisions. In this a vast collection ofState papers was preserved prior to the Revolution. [1] [Footnote 1: Vide _The Memoirs of Madame Campan. _] Mr. Lang tells us, in his admirable work _Pickle the Spy_, that Bonnie Prince Charlie, between the years 1749 and 1752, spent much of his time in the convent of St. Joseph in the RueSt. Dominique, in the Faubourg St. Germain, which under the lateEmpire (1863) was the hotel of the Minister of War. Here he appearsto have been continually lurking behind the walls, and at nightby a secret staircase visiting his protectress Madame de Vassés. Allusion is made in the same work to a secret cellar with a "darkstair" leading to James III. 's furtive audience-chamber at hisresidence in Rome. So recently as the year 1832 a hiding-place in an old Frenchhouse was put to practical use by the Duchesse de Berry afterthe failure of her enterprise to raise the populace in favour ofher son the Duc de Bordeaux. She had, however, to reveal herselfin preference to suffocation, a fire, either intentionally oraccidentally, having been ignited close to where she was hidden, recalling the terrible experiences of Father Gerard at "Braddocks. " CHAPTER XVI THE SCOTTISH HIDING-PLACES OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD The romantic escapes of Prince Charles Edward are somewhat beyondthe province of this book, owing to the fact that the hiding-placesin which he lived for the greater part of five months were notartificial but natural formations in the wild, mountainous countryof the Western Highlands. Far less convenient and comfortablewere these caves and fissures in the rocks than those secretplaces which preserved the life of the "young chevalier's"great-uncle Charles II. Altogether, the terrible hardships towhich the last claimant to the Stuart throne was subjected werefar greater in every way, and we can but admire the remarkablespirit, fortitude, and courage that carried him through his numerousdangers and trials. The wild and picturesque character not only of the Scotch scenery, but of the loyal Highlanders, who risked their all to save theirKing, gives the story of this remarkable escape a romantic colouringthat surpasses any other of its kind, whether real or fictitious. This, therefore, is our excuse for giving a brief summary of thePrince's wanderings, if only to add to our other hiding-placesa record of the names of the isolated spots which have becomehistorical landmarks. In his flight from the fatal battlefield of Culloden the youngPrince, when about four miles from Inverness, hastily determinedto make the best of his way towards the western coast. The firsthalt was made at Castle Dounie, the seat of the crafty old traitorLord Lovat. A hasty meal having been taken here, Charles and hislittle cavalcade of followers pushed on to Invergarry, wherethe chieftain, Macdonnell of Glengarry, otherwise "Pickle theSpy, "[1] being absent from home, an empty house was the onlywelcome, but the best was made of the situation. Here the bulk ofthe Prince's companions dispersed to look after their own safety, while he and one or two chosen friends continued the journey toGlenpean, the residence of the chieftain Donald Cameron. FromMewboll, which was reached the next night, the fugitives proceededon foot to Oban, where a hovel was found for sleeping-quarters. In the village of Glenbiasdale, in Arisaig, near to where Charleshad landed on his disastrous enterprise, he learned that a numberof Royalist cruisers were upon the alert all along the coast, whereupon he determined to watch his opportunity and get acrossto the Western Isles, and remain concealed until a French vesselcould be found to take him abroad. [Footnote 1: _Vide_ Andrew Lang's _Pickle the Spy_. ] A boat was procured, and the little party safely embarked, butin the voyage encountered such heavy seas that the vessel verynearly foundered; a landing, however, being effected at a placecalled Roonish, in the Isle of Benbecula, a habitation had tobe made out of a miserable hut. Two days being thus wretchedlyspent, a move was made to the Island of Scalpa, where Charleswas entertained for four days in the house of Donald Campbell. Meanwhile, a larger vessel was procured, the object being toreach Stornoway; but the inclemency of the weather induced Charlesand his guide Donald Macleod to make the greater part of thejourney by land. Arriving there hungry, worn out, and drenchedto the skin, the Prince passed the night at Kildun, the houseof Mrs. Mackenzie; an alarm of danger, however, forced him tosea again with a couple of companions, O'Sullivan and O'Neal;but shortly after they had embarked they sighted some men-of-war, so put to land once more at the Island of Jeffurt. Four dayswere passed away in this lonely spot, when the boat put out tosea once more, and after many adventures and privations thetravellers landed at Loch Wiskaway, in Benbecula, and made theirheadquarters some two miles inland at a squalid hut scarcelybigger than a pigstye. The next move was to an isolated locality named Glencorodale, in the centre of South Uist, where in a hut of larger dimensionsthe Prince held his court in comparative luxury, his wants beingwell looked after by Sir Alexander and Lady Macdonald and otherneighbouring Jacobites. With thirty thousand pounds reward offeredfor his capture, and the Western Isles practically surroundedby the enemy, it is difficult to imagine the much-sought-forprize coolly passing his weary hours in fishing and shooting, yet such was the case for the whole space of a month. An eye-witness describes Charles's costume at this time as "atartan short coat and vest of the same, got from Lady Clanranald;his nightcap all patched with soot-drops, his shirt, hands, andface patched with the same; a short kilt, tartan hose, and Highlandbrogs. " From South Uist the fugitive removed to the Island of Wia, wherehe was received by Ranald Macdonald; thence he visited placescalled Rossinish and Aikersideallich, and at the latter had tosleep in a fissure in the rocks. Returning once more to SouthUist, Charles (accompanied by O'Neal and Mackechan) found ahiding-place up in the hills, as the militia appeared to bedangerously near, and at night tramped towards Benbecula, nearto which another place of safety was found in the rocks. The memorable name of Flora Macdonald now appears upon the scene. After much scheming and many difficulties the meeting of the Princeand this noble lady was arranged in a squalid hut near Rosshiness. The hardships encountered upon the journey from Benbecula to thisvillage were some of the worst experiences of the unfortunatewanderer; and when his destination was reached at last, he had tobe hurried off again to a hiding-place by the sea-shore, whichprovided little or no protection from the driving torrents ofrain. Early each morning this precaution had to be taken, asthe Royalist soldiers, who were quartered only a quarter of amile distant, repaired to the hut every morning to get milk fromthe woman who acted as Charles's hostess. Upon the third day afterthe Prince had arrived, Flora Macdonald joined him, bringing withher the disguise for the character he was to impersonate upona proposed journey to the Isle of Skye--_viz. _ "a floweredlinen gown, a light-coloured quilted petticoat, a white apron, and a mantle of dun camlet, made after the Irish fashion, witha hood. " A boat lay in readiness in a secluded nook on the coast, and"Betty Burke"--the pseudo servant-maid--Flora Macdonald, andMackechan, as guide, embarked and got safely to Kilbride, inSkye. Not, however, without imminent dangers. A storm nearlyswamped the boat; and upon reaching the western coast of theisland they were about to land, when a number of militiamen werenoticed on shore, close at hand, and as they recognised theirperil, and pulled away with might and main, a volley of musketrywould probably have had deadly effect, had not the fugitivesthrown themselves at the bottom of the boat. At the house of the Macdonalds of Mugstat, whose representativedreaded the consequences of receiving Charles, another Macdonaldwas introduced as an accomplice by the merest accident. Thisstaunch Jacobite at once took possession of "Betty, " and hurriedoff towards his house of Kingsburgh. Upon the way the ungainlyappearance of Flora's maid attracted the attention of a servant, who remarked that she had never seen such an impudent-lookingwoman. "See what long strides the jade takes!" she cried; "and howawkwardly she manages her petticoats!" And this was true enough, for in fording a little brook "Betty Burke" had to be severelyreprimanded by her chaperon for her impropriety in lifting herskirts! Upon reaching the house, Macdonald's little girl caughtsight of the strange woman, and ran away to tell her mother thather father had brought home "the most old, muckle, ill-shapen-upwife" she had ever seen. Startling news certainly for the ladyof Kingsburgh! The old worn-out boots of the Prince's were discarded for newones ere he departed, and fragments of the former were longafterwards worn in the bosoms of Jacobite ladies. The next step in this wonderful escape was to Portree, wheretemporary accommodation was found in a small public-house. HereCharles separated from his loyal companions Neil Mackechan andthe immortal Flora. The "Betty Burke" disguise was discardedand burnt and a Highland dress donned. With new guides the youngChevalier now made his headquarters for a couple of days or soin a desolate shepherd's hut in the Isle of Raasay; thence hejourneyed to the north coast of the Isle of Skye, and near Scorobreckhoused himself in a cow-shed. At this stage of his journey Charlesaltered his disguise into that of a servant of his then companionMalcolm Macleod, and at the home of his next host (a Mackinnon ofEllagol) was introduced as "Lewie Caw, " the son of a surgeon inthe Highland army. By the advice of the Mackinnons, the fugitivedecided to return, under their guidance, again to the mainland, and a parting supper having been held in a cave by the sea-shore, he bid adieu to the faithful Macleod. The crossing having beeneffected, not without innumerable dangers, once more Charlesfound himself near the locality of his first landing. For thenext three days neither cave nor hut dwelling could be foundthat was considered safe; and upon the fourth day, in exploringthe shores of Loch Nevis for a hiding-place, the fugitives rantheir little craft right into a militia boat that was mooredto and screened from view by a projecting rock. The soldierson land immediately sprang on board and gave chase; but withhis usual good luck Charles got clear away by leaping on landat a turn of the lake, where his retreat was covered by densefoliage. After this the Prince was under the care of the Macdonalds, oneof which clan, Macdonald of Glenaladale, together with DonaldCameron of Glenpean, took the place of the Mackinnons. A brief stay was made at Morar Lake and at Borrodaile (both housesof the Macdonalds); after which a hut in a wood near the latterplace and an artfully constructed hiding-place between two rockswith a roof of green turf did service as the Prince's palace. In this cave Charles received the alarming news that the ArgyllshireMilitia were on the scent, and were forming an impenetrable cordoncompletely round the district. Forced once more to seek refugein flight, the unfortunate Stuart was hurried away through someof the wildest mountainous country he had yet been forced totraverse. A temporary hiding-place was found, and from this asearch-party exploring the adjacent rocks and crags was watchedwith breathless interest. Still within the military circle, a desperate dash for liberty hadnow to be planned. Nearly starved and reduced to the last extremityof fatigue, Charles and his guides, Glenpean and Glenaladale, crept stealthily upon all-fours towards the watch-fires, andtaking advantage of a favourable moment when the nearest sentrywas in such a position that their approach could be screenedby the projecting rocks, in breathless silence the three stoleby, and offering up a prayer for their deliverance, continuedtheir foot-sore journey until their legs would carry them nofarther. The next four days Charles sought shelter in caves in theneighbourhood of Glenshiel, Strathcluanie, and Strathglass; butthe most romantic episode in his remarkable adventures was thesojourn in the secret caves and hiding-places of the notoriousrobbers of Glenmoriston, under whose protection the royal fugitiveplaced himself. With these wild freebooters he continued forthree weeks, during which time he made himself extremely popularby his freedom of intercourse with them. The wanderer left these dwellings of comparative luxury thathe might join hands with other fugitive Jacobites, Macdonaldof Lochgarry and Cameron of Clunes, and took up his quartersin the wood-surrounded huts near Loch Arkaig and Auchnacarry. The poor youth's appearance at this period is thus described byone of his adherents: "The Prince was at this time bare-footed, had an old black kilt-coat on, philabeg and waistcoat, a dirtyshirt, and a long red beard, a gun in his hand, and a pistoland dirk by his side. " Moving again to miserable hovels in the wild recesses of themountain Benalder, the chieftains Lochiel and Cluny acted nowas the main bodyguard. The former of these two had devised avery safe hiding-place in the mountain which went by the nameof "the Cage, " and while here welcome news was brought that twofriendly vessels had arrived at Lochnanuagh, their mission being, if possible, to seek out and carry away the importunate heir tothe Stuart throne. The last three or four days of Charles's memorable adventureswere occupied in reaching Glencamger, halts being made on theday at Corvoy and Auchnacarry. On Saturday, September 20th, 1746, he was on board _L'Heureux_, and nine days later landed atRoscoff, near Morlaix. So ended the famous escapades of the young Chevalier Prince CharlesEdward. Here is a fine field open to some enterprising artistic tourist. How interesting it would be to follow Prince Charles throughouthis journeyings in the Western Highlands, and illustrate withpen and pencil each recorded landmark! Not long since Mr. AndrewLang gave, in a weekly journal (_The Sketch_), illustrationsof the most famous of all the Prince's hiding-places--_viz. _the cave in Glenmoriston, Inverness-shire. [1] The cave, we aretold, is "formed like a tumulus by tall boulders, but is clearlya conspicious object, and a good place wherein to hunt for afugitive. But it served its turn, and as another cave in the samedistrict two miles off is lost, perhaps it is not so conspiciousas it seems. " It is about twenty feet wide at the base, and theposition of the hearth and the royal bed are still to be seen, with "the finest purling stream that could be, running by thebed-side. " How handy for the morning "tub"! [Footnote 1: They appeared originally in Blaikie's _Itineraryof Prince Curies Stuart_ (Scottish History Society). ] In that remarkable collection of Stuart relics on exhibitionin 1889 were many pathetic mementoes of Charles's wanderings inthe Highlands. Here could be seen not only the mittens but thechemise of "Betty Burke"; the punch-bowl over which the Princeand the host of Kingsburgh had a late carousal, and his RoyalHighness's table-napkins used in the same hospitable house; awooden coffee-mill, which provided many a welcome cup of coffeein the days of so many hardships; a silver dessert-spoon, givento Dr. Macleod by the fugitive when he left the Isle of Skye;the Prince's pocket-book, many of his pistols, and a piece ofhis Tartan disguise; a curious relic in the form of two linesof music, sent as a warning to one of his lurking-places--whenfolded in a particular way the following words become legible, "Conceal yourself; your foes look for you. " There was also aletter from Charles saying he had "arrived safe aboard ye vessell"which carried him to France, and numerous little things whichgave the history of the escape remarkable reality. The recent dispersal of the famous Culloden collection sentlong-cherished Jacobite relics broadcast over the land. The ill-fatedStuart's bed and walking-stick were of course the plums of thissale; but they had no connection with the Highland wanderingsafter the battle. The only object that had any connection withthe story was the gun of _L'Heureux_. We understand there is still a much-prized heirloom now in Glasgow--arustic chair used by the Prince when in Skye. The story is that, secreted in one of his cave dwellings, he espied a lad in hisimmediate vicinity tending some cows. Hunger made him revealhimself, with the result that he was taken to the boy's home, a farm not far off, and had his fill of cream and oatcakes, adelicacy which did not often fall in his way. The visit naturallywas repeated; and long afterwards, when the rank of his guestcame to the knowledge of the good farmer, the royal chair waspromoted from its old corner in the kitchen to an honored positionworthy of such a valued possession. THE END. INDEX Bedfordshire:-- Toddington PlaceBerkshire:-- Besils Leigh Bisham Abbey East Hendred House Hurley, Lady Place Milton Priory Ockwells Ufton Court Windsor CastleBuckinghamshire:-- Burnham Abbey Claydon House Dinton Hall Gayhurst, or Gothurst Slough, Upton Court Stoke Poges Manor House Cambridgeshire:-- Catledge Hall Granchester Manor House Madingley Hall Sawston HallCheshire:-- Bramhall Hall Harden Hall Lyme Hall Moreton HallCornwall:-- Bochym House Cothele Port LevenCumberland:-- Naworth Castle Nether Hall Derbyshire:-- Bradshawe HallDevonshire:-- Bovey House Branscombe, "The Clergy House" Ford House WarleighDurham:-- Bishops Middleham Darlington Dinsdale-on-Tees Eshe Hall Essex:-- Braddocks, or Broad Oaks Braintree Dunmow, North End Hill Hall Hinchford Ingatestone Hall Romford, Marks Southend, Porter's Hall Woodham Mortimer Manor House Gloucestershire:-- Bourton-on-the-Water Manor House Hampshire:-- Bramshill Highclere Castle Hinton-Ampner Hursley Moyles Court Tichbourne Woodcote Manor HouseHerefordshire:-- TreagoHertfordshire:-- Great Gaddesden Manor House Hatfield House Knebworth House Markyate Cell, Dunstable Rickmansworth, The Bury Shenley, Salisbury Court Tyttenhanger HouseHuntingdonshire:-- Kimbolton Castle Kent:-- Bromley Palace Deal Dover, St. Radigund's Abbey Erith Folkestone Franks Hollingbourne Manor House Ightham Moat Lewisham, John Wesley's House Margate Milsted Manor Rochester, Abdication House Rochester, Eastgate House Rochester, Restoration House Sandwich, "Bell Inn" Sharsted Court Twissenden Wedmore College Lancashire:-- Bolling Hall Borwick Hall Gawthorp Hall Hall-i'-the-wood Holme Hall Huncoat Hall Lydiate Hall Mains Hall Preston, Ashes House Speke Hall StonyhurstLincolnshire:-- Bayons Manor Irnham Hall Kingerby Hall Terpersie Castle Middlesex:-- Enfield, White Webb's Hackney, Brooke House Hampstead, Sir Harry Vane's House Hampton Court Hendon, Tenterden Hall Highgate, Cromwell House Hillingdon, Moorcroft House Islington, Hale House Kensington, Holland House Knightsbridge London, Lincoln's Inn London, Newton Street, Holborn London, "Red Lion Inn, " West Street, Clerkenwell London, "Rising Sun, " Holywell Street Mill Hill, Partingdale House Sunbury Park Twickenham, Arragon Towers Westminster, Delahay Street Norfolk:-- Cromer, Rookery Farm Oxburgh HallNorthamptonshire:-- Ashby St. Ledgers Castle Ashby Deene Park Drayton House Fawsley Great Harrowden Rushton HallNorthumberland:-- Ford Castle Netherwhitton WallingtonNottinghamshire:-- Nottingham Castle Vale Royal Worksop Oxfordshire:-- Broughton Castle Chastleton Mapledurham House Minster Lovel Manor House Shipton Court Tusmore House Woodstock Shropshire:-- Batsden Court Boscobel House Gatacre Park Longford, Newport Madeley Court Madeley, Upper House Oswestry, Park Hall Plowden HallSomersetshire:-- Chard, "Clough Inn" Chelvey Court Chew Magna Manor House Dunster Castle Ilminster, The Chantry Trent House West Coker Manor HouseStaffordshire:-- Broughton Hall Moseley Hall West Bromwich, Dunkirk HallSuffolk:-- Barsham Rectory Brandeston Hall Brandon Hall Coldham Hall Gawdy Hall Melford HallSurrey:-- Mortlake, Cromwell House Petersham, Ham House Richmond Palace Sanderstead Court Thornton Heath Wandsworth Manor House Weybridge, Ham HouseSussex:-- Albourne Place Arundel Castle Bodiam Castle Chichester Cathedral Cowdray Hurstmonceaux Castle Parham Hall Paxhill Scotney Castle Slindon House Southwater, Horsham, "New Building" Street Place Warwickshire:-- Baddesley Clinton Clopton Hall Compton Winyates Coughton Court Mancetter Manor Packington Old Hall Salford Prior Hall Warwick, St. John's HospitalWiltshire:-- Fyfield House Great Chalfield Heale House Liddington Manor House SalisburyWorcestershire:-- Armscot Manor House Birtsmorton Court Cleeve Prior Manor House Harborough Hall Harvington Hall Hindlip Hall Huddington Court Malvern, Pickersleigh Court Stanford Court Wollas Hall Yorkshire:-- Bamborough Hall Beare Park Danby Hall Dannoty Hall Fountains Abbey Fountains Hall Hull, White Hart Hotel Kirkby Knowle Castle Leyburn, The Grove Myddleton Lodge, Ilkley Thirsk, "New Building" Whatton Abbey Whitby, Abbey House Yeadon, Low Hall Aberdeenshire:-- Belucraig Dalpersie House Fetternear Fyvie Castle Gordonstown Kemnay House Banffshire:-- Towie Barclay Castle Elginshire:-- Coxton Tower Forfarshire:-- Glamis Castle Haddingtonshire:-- Elphinstone Castle Linlithgowshire:-- Binns House Nairnshire:-- Cawdor Castle Monmouthshire:-- Ty Mywr Pembrokeshire:-- Carew Castle Isle of Wight:-- Newport Manor House Guernsey:-- Château du Puits