[MR] Harvington Hall and Priest Holes

[Garth Groff via Atlantia]

Noble Friends,

While exploring the BBC's history pages, I ran across mention of 
Harvington Hall and its famous priest holes. This mansion was owned by a 
staunch Catholic family during the Tudor period, and featured seven 
secret rooms or passages to allow visiting priests to hide if the house 
was raided by the crown's agents. One of these priest holes was filled 
with low-value "treasure" designed to distract searchers from a further 
secret panel behind which the priest would actually be hidden. Very 
cleaver! I don't know if the priest hole count includes the secret 
compartment in the floor of the family chapel where ritual articles for 
the mass were hidden.

Here is the Wikipedia page on Harvington Hall: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvington_Hall

In addition, there are a number of interesting pages about Harvington 
Hall which include additional photos and facts: 
http://www.harvingtonhall.com/ ; 
https://tudorstuff.wordpress.com/harvington-hall/ and 
http://britainexplorer.com/articles/item/192-harvington-hall-priest-holes-and-hides 
. There is even a YouTube film: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_yTQ7Ic1jU .

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot