The curious, many-gabled mansion Ufton Court, Berkshire, both from its secluded situation and quaint internal construction, appears to have been peculiarly suitable for the secretion of persecuted priests.
A remarkable hole is to be seen in one of the gables close to the ceiling, of which a sketch is given in the heading to this article. It is triangular in shape, and is opened by a spring bolt that can be unlatched by pulling a string which runs through a tiny hole pierced in the framework of the door of the adjoining room. The door of the hiding place swings upon a pivot, and externally is thickly coated with plaster, so as to resemble the rest of the wall, and is so solid that when sounded there is no hollow sound from the cavity behind, where it is supposed the crucifix and sacred vessels were secreted.
Not far off, in an upper garret, is a hiding place in the thickness of the wall large enough to contain a man standing upright. Like the other, the door or entrance forms part of the plaster wall, intersected by thick oak beams, into which it exactly fits, disguising any appearance of an opening.
Sawston Hall, Cambridgeshire, the fine old mansion of the Huddlestons, has a remarkable hiding place on the top landing of a quaint spiral staircase. When one of the floor-boards is raised, a round hole or tunnel is discovered in the stone masonry slanting into the wall, where is a space ten or twelve feet deep, and of sufficient breadth to contain any sized priest, should he succeed in squeezing through the aforesaid circular entrance, which would not admit a very bulky person.
Blocks of oak fixed upon the inside of the floor-board fit exactly into sockets scooped out of the beams which run at right angles and support the landing, and unless the movable board be pointed out it is impossible to detect it, so ingenious is its construction.
These are but a few of the stories that might be told of these quaint hiding-places which abound in England and Scotland. Unfortunately the buildings in which they exist are gradually disappearing. The pictures and facts here given, however, will bring vividly to mind the romantic and exciting conditions under which some of our forefathers lived.
ENTRANCE TO TUNNEL UNDER FLOOR-BOARDS AT SAWSTON HALL.