Chambers's journal of popular literature, science, and art, fifth series, no. 145, vol. III, October 9, 1886

No. 145.—Vol. III.
Price 1½ d.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1886.
Though we have on former occasions referred to houses with lurking-places, or secret chambers, the subject seems to be of such interest as to warrant our giving some further examples.
Plowden Hall, county of Salop, with ‘its gable ends, high chimneys, its floors, staircases, and doors of solid oak, and walls covered with oak panelling,’ is described as being full of nooks and corners. There is a hiding-hole in the closet of one of the bedrooms, where the boards of the flooring are so arranged as to be easily moved; and underneath is a trap-door, by which a small ladder leads down into a dark hole where there is just room enough for a man to change his position with ease from a standing to a sitting posture. There is a shelf, on which the concealed person could eat his food. Tradition states that a priest was actually concealed there for a fortnight whilst Cromwell’s soldiers were posted outside the gates; and that these were obliged to leave without having discovered him. Besides this hiding-place, there is an escape about the width and form of a chimney, reaching from one of the bedrooms down to the ground-floor of the house, to which a man might be lowered by means of a rope. There is also an outlet over the chapel through two trap-doors on to the roof, where a person might escape between the eaves of the house; and a portion of the flooring of the chapel is so formed as to lift up and cover a hiding-place below for concealing the sacred vessels.
Raglan Castle, Hallam, Derbyshire; Maple-Durham House, Oxon; Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk; Coughton Hall, Warwickshire; Harrowden, the seat of the Lords Vaux; and the old Manor-house, Long Clawson, each has its lurking-holes and secret chamber. That in the last named quaint, old, picturesque-looking house is reached by the chimney of one of the sitting-rooms.
‘White Welles House, which lies on the borders of Enfield Chase, is said to have been’ full of holes, dark mysterious vaults, and subterranean passages.