The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-07-23
Secret Chambers In Castles of Eng
land and Scotland.
USED ALSO BY PRIESTS
HIDING PLACE OF CHARLES II
IN BosCoBEL PALACE.
Artfully Contrived Holes That Con-
cealed the Human Prey Sought By
the Roundheads In the Days of
Catholic Persecution-Detail of
Some Thrilling Escapes.
New York SUM-

The secret chamber is a favorite item
IN the properties of the novelist, but
few people are aware how many secret
chambers really exist. They are not
quite so numerous as ghosts" but
many English country houses still pos
sess these queer hiding places. The
| majority of them owe their origin to
the religious prosecutions of Queen
BeSS
In the mansions of the old Roman
| Catholic families an apartment is often
found in secluded part of the house
! or garnet in the roof, named the
chapel" where religious rites could be
performed with the utmost privacy.
and close handy was usually an artful-
iy contrived hiding place, not only for
the ofhciatng priest to slip into in case
| or emergency. but also where the vest
ments, sacred vessels, and altar fur
niture could be put away at q mo-
ment's notice.
1t appears that most of the hiding
places for priests, called priests
holes, were invented and constructed
by the Jesuit, Nicholas Owen, a serv-
ant OF Father Garnet. who devoted the
greater part OF his life to constructing
these places in the principal Catholic
houses all over England in the days
when Catholic worship was illegal and
beasts.
with incompatible SKILL" says
Father Tanner, writing in the seven
teenth century, 'he knew how to con-
duct priests to a place Of safety along
the subterranean passages, to hide
them between walls and bury them in
labyrinths of a thousand windings
He alone was both their architect
and their builder, working at them
with inexhaustible labor and industry,
for generally the thickest walls had to
be broken into and large stones exca-
waited, requiring stronger arms than
were attached TO a body SO diminutive
as to gite him the nickname of Little
john and by his skill many priests
were preserved from becoming the
prey of the prosecutors
After the discovery of the gunpow-
der plot Little John" and his master
Father Garnet, were arrested at
Hindlip hall, Worcestershire, from in
formation given to the government by
Catesby's servant, Bates.
Dragged the Roundhead Soldiers.
The gray old Jacobean mansion,
ChaStleton, preserves in its oak-pan-
eled hall the sword and portrait Of the
gallant cavalier, Captain Arthur Jones,
who, narrowly escaping from the bat
tlefield, rode him with all speed with
some of Cromwell's soldiers at his
heels; and his wife, lady of great
courage, had scarcely concealed him
in the secret chamber when the enemy
returned to search the house.
Little daunted, the lady, with great
presence of mind, made no objection
whatever-indeed, facilitated their OPP
erations by personally conducting them
over the mansion. Here, as in so
many other instances. the secret room
rt~ra rod frnT he hQd
room, and in inspecting the latter the
suspicion of the Roundheads was in
some way or other aroused So here
they determined to remain for the lest
of the night.
An ample supper and a good store of
wine-which, by the way, had been
carefully drugged-was sent up to the
unwelcome visitors, and in due course
the drink effected its purpose and its
victims dropped off one by one, until
the whole party lay like logs upon the
floor.
Mrs. Arthur Jones then crept in,
having even to step over the bodies or
the inenimate Roundheads. released
her husband and. a fresh horse being
in readiness, by the time the effects
of the wine had worn off the royalist
captain was far beyond their reach
The secret room is situated in the
front of the building, and has now
been converted into a very coy little
dressing room, preserving its paneied
wainscoting and but little altered, with
the exception of the entry to II, which
is now by an ordinary door.
Abbots Stafford, another fine old man
sion. has its chapel and resident priest
for the services still held there.
In a dark passage up in the garrets
is the priests hole, as in8eniously con-
cealed and intact as 1t was three cen
turtles ago. By removing wooden
peg from a particular shelf In the most
looking of cupboards, the
whole back of it, oak shelves and all, |
swings backward into a large and dis ]
NAL recess four feet in depth. This in
genious swing door may be fastened |
on the inside by a stout wooden bolt !
provided for that purpose.
When the war was raging many a
defeated royalist owed his preservation |
to the priests holes and scored cham- !
bers of the old Catholic houses all over |
the country. Did not King Charles III
himself owe his life to the artful hid /
ing places of Boscobel, Moseley, Trent |
and Heale?
Hiding Place of Charles II.
After the defeat of Wigan the gallant |
Earl of Derby sought refuge at Bos- !
cobel and after a sojourn of two days, !
proceeded to Getacre park-now rebuilt,
but also famous for its hiding holes
where he was concealed by Mr.. Hum
phrey Elliot. When the day was lost
on the disastrous Sept. g. the earl sug-
costing his recent place of concealment
and the loyalty of the Pendernels, Bos-
cobel house was decided upon as the
safest place for the king in his dire ex-
L chose to trust them" says
King Charles, because 1 knew they
had holes for priests that l thought
might make use of in case of need
A door now occupies the position of
the sliding panel in the wainscoting or
the squire's bedroom" behind which
one of the hiding places is situated In
the floor a trap door can be raised, be-
ow which is a recess some five feet
square. and this communicated by a
narrow flight of steps in the great
chimney to an outlet screened by creep