Note 1 — ASHCLIFFE HALL

Evidence of twenty-one such concealed chambers will be found in Notes and Queries alone. They exist all over England, in old houses built between the time of Henry VIII. and that of James II.—possibly later still. I append the descriptions of the two which appear to have been most cleverly concealed and best preserved.

The first chamber is at Ingatestone Hall, Essex, which was anciently a grange belonging to the Abbot of Barking, and was in possession of the Petre family from the reign of Henry VIII. to about 1775. "The secret chamber at Ingatestone Hall was entered from a small room on the middle-floor, over one of the projections of the south front. It is a small room, attached to what was probably the host's bedroom.... In the south-east corner of this small room, on taking up a carpet the floor-boards were found to be decayed. The carpenter, on removing them, found a second layer of boards about a foot lower down. When these were removed, a hole or trap about two feet square, and a twelve-step ladder to descend into a room beneath, were disclosed.... The use of the chamber goes back to the reign of James I.... The hiding-place measures 14 feet in length, 2 feet 1 inch in width, and 10 feet in height. Its floor-level is the natural ground-line. The floor is composed of 9 inches of remarkably dry sand, so as to exclude damp or moisture."—Notes and Queries, 1st S., xi. 437.

The other example is at Irnham Hall, Lincolnshire. "The situation of this ingeniously-contrived place had been forgotten, though it was well known to exist somewhere in the mansion, till it was discovered a few years ago. In going round the chimney-stacks, it was observed that one of the chimneys of a cluster was without any smoke or any blackness, and as clean as when the masonry was new. This led to the conjecture that it was not in reality a chimney, but an open shaft to give light and air to the priest's hiding-place; yet so forming one of a group of chimneys as to obviate all suspicion of its real purpose. It was carefully examined, and the conjecture fully borne out by the discovery of the long-lost hiding-place. The opening into it was found by removing a beam behind a single step between two servants' bed-rooms. You then come to a panel which has a very small iron tube let into it, through which any message could be conveyed to the occupant of the hiding-place. This panel being removed, a ladder of four steps leads down into the secret chamber.... The hiding-place is 8 feet long by 5 feet broad, and just high enough to allow of standing upright."—Notes and Queries, 1st S., xii.

Other instances occur at Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk; Sawston Hall, Cambridgeshire; Coldham Hall, Suffolk; Maple Durham, Watcomb, and Ufton Court, Berkshire; Stonyhurst and Berwick Hall, Lancashire; Bourton, Gloucestershire; Henlip, Worcestershire; Chelvey Court, Somerset; Nether Witton, Northumberland; Paxhill, Sussex (built by Sir Andrew Borde, jester of Henry VIII., and the original of "Merry Andrew"); Treago, Hereford; Weybridge, Surrey; Woodcote, Hampshire; and elsewhere. In several of these instances the secret chamber was formed in the roof of the house, and in two cases at least it was accompanied by a small chapel.