MOSELEY HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE
SECRET CHAMBERS AND HIDING-PLACES
HISTORIC, ROMANTIC, & LEGENDARY STORIES & TRADITIONS ABOUT HIDING-HOLES, SECRET CHAMBERS, ETC.
BY ALLAN FEA
AUTHOR OF "THE FLIGHT OF THE KING," "KING MONMOUTH," ETC.
WITH EIGHTY ILLUSTRATIONS THIRD AND REVISED EDITION CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
A GREAT DEVISER OF "PRIEST'S HOLES" CHAPTER II
HINDLIP HALL CHAPTER III
PRIEST-HUNTING AT BRADDOCKS CHAPTER IV
THE GUNPOWDER PLOT CONSPIRATORS CHAPTER V
HARVINGTON, UFTON, AND INGATESTONE CHAPTER VI
COMPTON WINYATES, SALFORD PRIOR, SAWSTON, OXBURGH, PARHAM, PAXHILL, ETC. CHAPTER VII
KING-HUNTING: BOSCOBEL, MOSELEY, TRENT, AND HEALE CHAPTER VIII
CAVALIER-HUNTING, ETC.
CHAPTER IX
JAMES II.'S ESCAPES
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CHAPTER X
JAMES II.'S ESCAPES (continued): HAM HOUSE, AND "ABDICATION HOUSE" CHAPTER XI
MYSTERIOUS ROOMS, DEADLY PITS, ETC. CHAPTER XII
HIDING-PLACES IN JACOBITE DWELLINGS AND IN SCOTTISH CASTLES AND MANSIONS CHAPTER XIII
CONCEALED DOORS, SUBTERRANEAN PASSAGES, ETC. CHAPTER XIV
MINIATURE HIDING-HOLES FOR VALUABLES, ETC. CHAPTER XV
HIDING-PLACES OF SMUGGLERS AND THIEVES CHAPTER XVI
THE SCOTTISH HIDING-PLACES OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
MOSELEY HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE HINDLIP HALL, WORCESTERSHIRE BRADDOCKS, ESSEX
FIREPLACE AT BRADDOCKS
ASHBY ST. LEDGERS, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE THE PLOT ROOM, ASHBY ST. LEDGERS HUDDINGTON COURT, WORCESTERSHIRE ENTRANCE PORCH, HUDDINGTON COURT
ENTRANCE TO "PRIEST'S HOLE," HARVINGTON HALL HARVINGTON HALL, WORCESTERSHIRE
UFTON COURT, BERKSHIRE
" " GARDEN TERRACE, BERKSHIRE HIDING-PLACE, UFTON COURT
" " " INGATESTONE HALL, ESSEX
" " "
"PRIEST'S HOLE," SAWSTON HALL SCOTNEY CASTLE, SUSSEX
COMPTON WINYATES, WARWICKSHIRE
THE MINSTRELS' GALLERY, COMPTON WINYATES SAWSTON HALL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE PICKERSLEIGH COURT, WORCESTERSHIRE SALFORD PRIOR HALL, WARWICKSHIRE
" " " "
HIDING-PLACE, SALFORD PRIOR
SHOWING ENTRANCE TO HIDING PLACE, SALFORD PRIOR OXBURGH HALL, NORFOLK
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ENTRANCE TO HIDING-PLACE, PARHAM HALL PAXHILL, SUSSEX
CLEEVE PRIOR MANOR HOUSE, WORCESTERSHIRE BADDESLEY CLINTON HALL, WARWICKSHIRE
HIDING-PLACE BENEATH "THE CHAPEL," BOSCOBEL, SALOP HIDING-PLACE IN "THE SQUIRE'S BEDROOM," BOSCOBEL
ENTRANCE TO HIDING-PLACE IN THE GARRET, OR "CHAPEL," BOSCOBEL SECRET PANEL, TRENT HOUSE, SOMERSETSHIRE
BOSCOBEL
ENTRANCE TO HIDING-PLACE, TRENT HOUSE HIDING-PLACE, TRENT HOUSE
TRENT HOUSE IN 1864
HEALE HOUSE, WILTSHIRE MADELEY COURT, SHROPSHIRE
" " THE COURTYARD, SHROPSHIRE " " SHROPSHIRE
ENTRANCE TO "PRIEST'S HOLE," THE UPPER HOUSE, MADELEY, SHROPSHIRE INTERIOR OF "PRIEST'S HOLE," MOSELEY HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE
SECRET PANEL AT SALISBURY
SECRET CHAMBER, CHASTLETON, OXFORDSHIRE OLD SUMMER HOUSE, SALISBURY
CHASTLETON, OXFORDSHIRE
" FRONT ENTRANCE, OXFORDSHIRE BROUGHTON HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE
ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL, WARWICK STAIRCASE, BROUGHTON HALL SHIPTON COURT, OXFORDSHIRE BROUGHTON CASTLE, OXFORDSHIRE
ENTRANCE GATE, BRADSHAWE HALL, DERBYSHIRE MOYLES COURT, HAMPSHIRE
TODDINGTON MANOR HOUSE, BEDFORDSHIRE, IN 1806 "RAT'S CASTLE," ELMLEY
KING'S HILL FARM, ELMLEY, KENT
ENTRANCE TO SECRET PASSAGE, "ABDICATION HOUSE," ROCHESTER "ABDICATION HOUSE," ROCHESTER
MONUMENT OF SIR RICHARD HEAD "RESTORATION HOUSE," ROCHESTER
ARMSCOT MANOR HOUSE, WORCHESTERSHIRE ENTRANCE GATE, ARMSCOT MANOR HOUSE WOODSTOCK PALACE, OXFORDSHIRE MARKYATE CELL, HERTFORDSHIRE BIRTSMORTON COURT, WORCESTERSHIRE PORCH AT CHELVEY COURT, SOMERSETSHIRE HURSTMONCEAUX CASTLE, SUSSEX
BOVEY HOUSE, SOUTH DEVON MAPLEDURHAM HOUSE, OXFORDSHIRE
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ENTRANCE TO SECRET STAIRCASE, PARTINGDALE HOUSE, MILL HILL, MIDDLESEX INTRODUCTION
The secret chamber is unrivalled even by the haunted house for the mystery and romance surrounding it. Volumes have been written about the haunted house, while the secret chamber has found but few exponents. The ancestral ghost has had his day, and to all intents and purposes is dead, notwithstanding the existence of the Psychical Society and the investigations of Mr. Stead and the late Lord Bute. "Alas! poor ghost!" he is treated with scorn and derision by the multitude in these advanced days of modern enlighten-ment. The search-light of science has penetrated even into his sacred haunts, until, no longer having a leg to stand upon, he has fallen from the exalted position he occupied for centuries, and fallen moreover into ridicule!
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In the secret chamber, however, we have something tangible to deal with--a subject not only keenly interesting from an antiquarian point of view, but one deserving the attention of the general reader; for in exploring the gloomy hiding-holes, concealed apartments, passages, and staircases in our old halls and manor houses we probe, as it were, into the very groundwork of romance. We find actuality to support the weird and mysterious stories of fiction, which those of us who are honest enough to admit a lingering love of the marvellous must now doubly appreciate, from the fact that our school-day impressions of such things are not only revived, but are strengthened with the semblance of truth. Truly Bishop Copleston wrote: "If the things we hear told be avowedly fictitious, and yet curious or affecting or entertaining, we may indeed admire the author of the fiction, and may take pleasure in contemplating the exercise of his skill. But this is a pleasure of another kind--a pleasure wholly distinct from that which is derived from discovering what was unknown, or clearing up what was doubtful. And even when the narrative is in its own nature, such as to please us and to engage our attention, how, greatly is the interest increased if we place entire confidence in its truth! Who has not heard from a child when listening to a tale of deep interest--who has not often heard the artless and eager question, 'Is it true?'"
From Horace Walpole, Mrs. Radcliffe, Scott, Victor Hugo, Dumas, Lytton, Ainsworth, Le Fanu, and Mrs. Henry Wood, down to the latest up-to-date novelists of to-day, the secret chamber (an ingenious necessity of the "good old times") has afforded invaluable "property"--indeed, in many instances the whole vitality of a plot is, like its ingenious opening, hinged upon the masked wall, behind which lay concealed what hidden mysteries, what undreamed-of revelations! The thread of the story, like Fair Rosamond's silken clue, leads up to and at length reveals the buried secret, and (unlike the above comparison in this instance) all ends happily!
Bulwer Lytton honestly confesses that the spirit of romance in his novels "was greatly due to their having been written at my ancestral home, Knebworth, Herts. How could I help writing romances," he says, "after living amongst the secret panels and hiding-places of our dear old home? How often have I trembled with fear at the sound of my own footsteps when I ventured into the picture gallery! How fearfully have I glanced at the faces of my ancestors as I peered into the shadowy abysses of the 'secret chamber.' It was years before I could venture inside without my hair literally bristling with terror."