COMPTON WINYATES, SALFORD PRIOR, SAWSTON, OXBURGH, PARHAM, PAXHILL,
ETC.
Of all the ancient mansions in the United Kingdom, and there is
still, happily, a large selection, none perhaps is so picturesque and
quaintly original in its architecture as the secluded Warwickshire
house Compton Winyates. The general impression of its vast
complication of gable ends and twisted chimneys is that some
enchanted palace has found its way out of one of the fairy-tale
books of our early youth and concealed itself deep down in a
sequestered hollow among the woods and hills. We say concealed
itself, for indeed it is no easy matter to find it, for anything
in 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, that
also in a very short time fades away into oblivion! So solitary
also is the valley in which the mansion lies and so shut in with
thick clustering trees, that one unacquainted with the locality
might pass within fifty yards of it over and over again without
observing a trace of it. When, however, we do discover the beautiful
old structure, we are well repaid for what trouble we may have
encountered. To locate the spot within a couple of miles, we
may state that Brailes is its nearest village; the nearest town
is Banbury, some nine miles away to the east.
Perhaps if we were to analyse the peculiar charm this venerable
pile conveys, we should find that it is the wonderful _colour_,
the harmonies of greys and greens and reds which pervade its
countless chimney clusters and curious step-gables. We will be
content, however, with the fascinating results, no matter how
accomplished, without inquiring into the why and wherefore; and
pondering over the possibilities of the marvellous in such a
building 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-world
rooms and corridors, we soon discover evidences of the days of
priest-hunting. A "Protestant" chapel is on the ground floor
(with a grotesquely carved screen of great beauty), but up in
the roof we discover another--a "Popish" chapel. From this there
are numerous ways of escape, by staircases and passages leading
in all directions, for even in the almost impenetrable seclusion
of this house the profoundest secrecy was necessary for those
who wished to celebrate the rites of the forbidden religion.
Should the priest be surprised and not have time to descend one
of the many staircases and effect his escape by the ready means
in the lower part of the house, there are secret closets between
the timber beams of the roof and the wainscot into which he could
creep.
Curious rooms run along each side in the roof round the quadrangle,
called "the barracks," into which it would be possible to pack
away a whole regiment of soldiers. Not far away are "the false
floors," a typical Amy Robsart death-trap!
A place of security here, once upon a time, could only be reached
by a ladder; later, however, it was made easier of access by a
dark passage, but it was as secure as ever from intrusion. The
fugitive had the ready means of isolating himself by removing
a large portion of the floor-boards; supposing, therefore, his
lurking-place had been traced, he had only to arrange this deadly
gap, and his pursuers would run headlong to their fate.
Many other strange rooms there are, not the least interesting
of which is a tiny apartment away from everywhere called "the
Devil's chamber," and another little chamber whose window is
_invariably found open in the morning, though securely fastened
on 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 containing
a perfect skeleton!--at another an antique box full of papers
belonging to the past history of the family (the Comptons) was
discovered 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-place
that was put to very practical use by two old maiden ladies some
years 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. This
passage led to their bedroom, so that they were protected much in
the same way as the fugitive at Compton Winyates, by a yawning
gap. Local tradition does not record how many would-be burglars
were trapped in this way, but it is certain that should anyone
ever have ventured along that passage, they would have been
precipitated with more speed than ceremony into a cellar below.
Pickersleigh, it may be pointed out, is erroneously shown in
connection with the wanderings of Charles II. after the battle
Worcester.[1]
[Footnote 1: See _The Flight of the King._]
Salford Prior Hall (otherwise known as "the Nunnery," or Abbots
Salford), not far from Evesham, is another mansion remarkable
for its picturesqueness as well as for its capacity for hiding.
It not only has its Roman Catholic chapel, but a resident priest
holds services there to this day. Up in the garret is the "priest's
hole," ready, it would seem, for some present emergency, so well
is it concealed and in such perfect working order; and even when
its position is pointed out, nothing is to be seen but the most
innocent-looking of cupboards. By removing a hidden peg, however,
the whole back of it, shelves and all, swings backwards into a
dismal recess some four feet in depth. This deceitful swing door
may be secured on the inside by a stout wooden bolt provided
for 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 changed
since the day it was manufactured is one at Sawston, the ancestral
seat of the old family of Huddleston. Sawston Hall is a typical
Elizabethan building. The one which preceded it was burnt to the
ground by the adherents of Lady Jane Grey, as the Huddleston
of that day, upon the death of King Edward VI., received his
sister Mary under his protection, and contrived her escape to
Framlingham Castle, where she was carried in disguise, riding
pillion behind a servant.
The secret chamber, as at Harvington, is on the top landing of
the staircase, and the entrance is so cleverly arranged that
it slants into the masonry of a circular tower without showing
the least perceptible sign from the exterior of a space capable
of holding a baby, far less a man. A particular board in the
landing is raised, and beneath it, in a corner of the cavity,
is found a stone slab containing a circular aperture, something
after the manner of our modern urban receptacles for coal. From
this hole a tunnel slants downwards at an angle into the adjacent
wall, where there is an apartment some twelve feet in depth,
and wide enough to contain half a dozen people--that is to say,
not bulky ones, for the circular entrance is far from large.
Blocks of oak fixed upon the inside of the movable floor-board
fit with great nicety into their firm oak sockets in the beams,
which run at right angles and support the landing, so that the
opening is so massive and firm that, unless pointed out, the
particular floor-board could never be detected, and when secured
from 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 is
one of those instances where alterations and modern conveniences
have destroyed what can never be replaced. The priest, Father
John Huddleston (who aided King Charles II. to escape, and who,
it will be remembered, was introduced to that monarch's death-bed
by 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 seen
at Oxburgh Hall, near Stoke Ferry, the grand old moated mansion
of the ancient Bedingfield family. In solidity and compactness
it is unique. Up in one of the turrets of the entrance gateway
is a tiny closet, the floor of which is composed of brickwork
fixed into a wooden frame. Upon pressure being applied to one
side of this floor, the opposite side heaves up with a groan at
its own weight. Beneath lies a hollow, seven feet square, where
a priest might lie concealed with the gratifying knowledge that,
however the ponderous trap-door be hammered from above, there
would be no tell-tale hollowness as a response. Having bolted
himself in, he might to all intents and purposes be imbedded in
a rock (though truly a toad so situated is not always safe from
intrusion). Three centuries have rolled away and thirteen sovereigns
have reigned since the construction of this hiding-place, but the
mechanism of this masterpiece of ingenuity remains as perfect
as if it had been made yesterday! Those who may be privileged
with permission to inspect the interesting hall will find other
surprises where least expected. An oak-panelled passage upon the
basement of the aforesaid entrance gateway contains a secret
door that gives admittance into the living-rooms in the most
eccentric manner.
A priest's hole beneath the floor of a small oratory adjoining
"the chapel" (now a bedroom) at Borwick Hall, Lancashire, has an
opening devised much in the same fashion as that at Oxburgh. By
leaning his weight upon a certain portion of the boards, a fugitive
could slide into a convenient gap, while the floor would adjust
itself 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 beneath
the 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 a
panel whose position is now occupied by a door; but the entrance
to the hiding-place within the projecting bay of the window is
much the same as it ever was. After the failure of the Babington
conspiracy one Charles Paget was concealed here for some days.
The Tudor house of Tusmore, in Oxfordshire, also had a secret
chamber, approached through a fixed settle in "the parlour" window.
A tradition in the neighbourhood says that the great fish-pond
near the site of the old house was dug by a priest and his servant
in the days of religious persecution, constituting their daily
occupation for twelve years!
Paxhill, in Sussex, the ancient seat of the Bordes, has a priest's
hole behind a window-shutter, and it is large enough to hold several
persons; there is another large hiding-hole in the ceiling of a
room on the ground floor, which is reached through a trap-door
in the floor above. It is provided with a stone bench.
In castles and even ecclesiastical buildings sections of massive
stone columns have been found to rotate and reveal a hole in an
adjacent wall--even an altar has occasionally been put to use
for concealing purposes. At Naworth Castle, for instance, in
"Lord William's Tower," there is an oratory behind the altar, in
which fugitives not only could be hidden but could see anything
that transpired in its vicinity. In Chichester Cathedral there is
a room called Lollards' Prison, which is approached by a sliding
panel in the old consistory-room situated over the south porch.
The manor house of Great Chalfield, in Wiltshire, has a unique
device by which any suspected person could be watched. The eye
of a stone mask in the masonry is hollowed out and through this
a suspicious lord of the manor could, unseen, be a witness to
any 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 ancient
seat of the Ferrers, has a stone well or shaft near "the chapel."
There were formerly projections or steps by which a fugitive
could reach a secret passage extending round nearly two sides
of the house to a small water-gate by the moat, where a boat
was kept in readiness. Adjoining the "banqueting-room" on the
east side of the building is a secret chamber six feet square
with a bench all round it. It is now walled up, but the narrow
staircase, behind the wainscoting, leading up to it is unaltered.
Cleeve Prior Manor House, in Worcestershire (though close upon
the border of Warwickshire)) famous for its unique yew avenue,
has a priest's hole, a cramped space five feet by two, in which
it is necessary to lie down. As at Ingatestone, it is below the
floor of a small chamber adjoining the principal bedroom, and
is 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 sixteenth
century), has a chapel in the upper part of the house, and a
secret chamber, or priest's hole, provided with a diminutive
fire-place. When the officiating priest was about to celebrate
Mass, it was the custom here to spread linen upon the hedges as
a sign to those in the adjacent villages who wished to attend.
A hiding-place at Treago, Herefordshire (an unique specimen of
a thirteenth-century fortified mansion) inhabited by the Mynor
family for more than four hundred years), has quite luxurious
accommodation--a sleeping-place and a reading-desk. It is called
"Pope's Hole." The walls on the south-east side of the house are
of immense thickness, and there are many indications of secret
passages 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 one
was discovered behind the rafters of the roof. Another ancient
house close by contained a priest's hole where were found some
religious 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 grounds
is to be seen a curious maze of thickly planted evergreens in
the shape of a cross. From the fact that at one end remain three
wooden crosses, there is but little doubt that at the time of
religious persecution the privacy of the maze was used for secret
worship.
When Slindon House, Sussex, was undergoing some restorations, a
"priest's hole" communicating with the roof was discovered. It
contained some ancient devotional books, and against the walls
were hung stout leathern straps, by which a person could let
himself down.
The internal arrangements at Plowden Hall, Shropshire, give one
a good idea of the feeling of insecurity that must have been
so prevalent in those "good old days." Running from the top of
the house there is in the thickness of the wall, a concealed
circular shoot about a couple of feet in diameter, through which
a person could lower himself, if necessary, to the ground floor
by the aid of a rope. Here also, beneath the floor-boards of a
cupboard in one of the bedrooms, is a concealed chamber with a
fixed shelf, presumably provided to act as a sort of table for
the unfortunate individual who was forced to occupy the narrow
limits of the room. Years before this hiding-place was opened
to the light of day (in the course of some alterations to the
house), its existence and actual position was well known; still,
strange to say, the way into it had never been discovered.