[MR] History Blog: Rats' Nest Reveal Life in 16th C. Manor House

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

And we thought rats were just pests and spreaders of the plague! Well,
maybe, but they can be a boon to historians. Today the History Blog feature
discusses finds in rats' nests dscovered during renovations at Oxburgh Hall
in Norfolk, England.

When the Victorian-era floors were lifted during conservation, the late
medieval/Tudor floor beneath was revealed. Also revealed were all sorts of
goodies that had been carried off by Tudor-era rats to line their nests.
The treasures included fragments of expensive textiles, bits of paper and
parchment, part of an illuminated Bible, and shards of sheet music. The
real treasure was a largely intact copy of the 1568 edition of martyred
Bishop John Fisher's Kynges Psalmes, now only one of two copies known to
survive. The rats may not have stolen this book (it might have been hidden
purposefully in the void space where it was found), but it was the source
of some of their nesting materials found elsewhere.

The story also mentions a priest hole. The Bedingfield family, owners of
Oxburgh Hall, were "recusant" Catholics (meaning they refused to renounce
their faith). They had a secret refuge built to protect their priest.

You can read the story and see views of some of the treasures at
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/59354 .

Wikipedia offers a page on Oxburgh Hall at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxburgh_Hall .

Oxburgh Hall's official site has a further discussion of the rats' nest
finds, including close-up photos of some of the debris . . . uh treasures,
plus a more complete discussion of their significance. The site also has
more photos of the manor house:
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/oxburgh-hall . By going to the "Hall at
Oxburgh" section (
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/oxburgh-hall/features/the-hall-at-oxburgh
) and scrolling almost all the way to the bottom, you can see a photo of
the infamous "priest hole". Along the way, you will pass many other
interesting side-trips, including tapestries and the library. You could
spend all morning exploring this site and reveling in Oxburgh
Hall's history and its treasures. What better way to spend a day while
cooped up at home during a plague?

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆