Saint John Wall, O.F.M., (1620 – 22 August 1679) was an English Catholic Franciscan friar, who is honored as a martyr.

He was born in Preston, Lancashire. When of age, he entered the English College, Douai (in modern-day northern France) in 1641, and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1645. He returned to his homeland for several years, saying Mass for the Catholics who stayed loyal to the papacy. He returned to Douai and there he entered the Order of Friars Minor, taking the name Friar Joachim of St. Ann. He was soon named Master of novices, serving in that office until 1656, when he returned to England, settling in Worcestershire. There he became a Governor (Six Master) of the Royal Grammar School Worcester.

In 1678, after 22 years of ministry to the Catholics of the nation, he was apprehended under suspicion of being a party to the Titus Oates plot and sent to the Worcester jail. His trial was on 25 April. After being sent to London he was brought back to Worcester and executed for being a Catholic priest and exercising as such.^[1]

This chapel was used from about 1590 until the opening of the Georgian Chapel in 1743. It contains three features, from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, which illustrate the gradual easing of persecution over the century and a half. At first all ‘Massing Stuff’ had to be concealed when not in use, and so, in the north-west corner, two floor-boards cover a small hide for vestments and church plate – a ’secret corner’, as opposed to a ‘conveyance’, which was a hide big enough for a man.*

During the 18th century it became the custom to use a chest-of-drawers as an altar and simply store the vestments in it. Against the north wall is a chest-of-drawers which was used in this way. and still is when Mass is said here. *

*From the Harvington Hall guidebook by Michael Hodgetts

The upper floor of a brick building in the grounds of Harvington was converted into a chapel in 1743. The chapel is accessed by an external staircase.

In 1823 this was badly damaged by fire and the original altar of oak was destroyed, together with some chalices and other relics which had been found inside it a few months before. After repairs it became the village school until 1913. iN 1986-7 it was restored and reopened for worship. It now contains a Georgian chamber-organ, altar and rails. Into the altar is set the original cracked and fire-blackened altar-stone. The altar-piece is the 17th-century Virgin and Child with Saints after Baroccio. In the sacristy is a Regency vestment-press which probably came from the chapel at Grafton Manor, just outside Bromsgrove. To the left of the chapel door is a school desk with registers of 1893-4, a photograph of the teacher, Miss Mary Kellerd, and the class taken about 1890, attendance certificates of 1904-5 and some Victorian school-books.*

*From the Harvington Hall guidebook by Michael Hodgetts

The malt house was originally an Elizabethan building of two builds, which during the 18th century was converted for malting. In 2008-9 is was restored as a visitor centre.

On the ground floor are the malting-kiln, an audio-visual programme on the Hall, an explanation of the processes of malting and brewing, and an exhibition of life on the estate. The centre piece of this is a map of the parish commissioned by Sir Robert Throckmorton in 1745-6 and drawn by the surveyor Robert Thorp. With it are a circular emblem of the Labours of the Twelve Months and drawings of men and women who then worked on the estate. The maltster is Randall Bagnall, who leased the Hall Farm from Sir Robert Throckmorton in 1745 and whose descendents were still here at the time of the census in 1841.*

Harvington Hall, a medieval and Elizabethan manor house situated on an island surrounded by a moat is in the ownership of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham.

A house full of secrets, Harvington Hall was built in the 1580s by Humphrey Pakington, who was a recusant Catholic under the Protestant rule of Elizabeth I. The hall brings to life the fascinating history of the survival of Catholic families and clergymen at a time when it was high treason for a Catholic priest to be in England. The remarkable survival of its priests’ hiding places and rare Elizabethan wall paintings, together with its unique character, make Harvington Hall an extraordinary place with a captivating story, never to be forgotten.*

In 1696 the house passed to the Throckmorton family and remained in their hands until 1923. The Throckmortons also owned and lived in the nearby Coughton Court, which led to Harvington being stripped of items and fittings to be installed in Coughton including the grand staircase. The house was left to become derelict until, in 1923, it was purchased and donated to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham. The house has now been fully restored including a replica staircase; the original of which can still be seen at Coughton Court.

Harvington Hall boasts the largest surviving collection of priests’ hiding places in the country. Built in the time of Humphrey Pakington (1555-1631), some of these hides are believed to be the work of the ingenious carpenter and hide-builder, Nicholas Owen, who was arrested in 1606 and tortured to death in the Tower of London.*

The first hide that is encountered on the guided tour of the house is situated above the bread oven within the thickness of the chimney stack. This hide was accessed by a trapdoor in the garderobe in the room above the kitchen.

On the first floor, the Withdrawing Room also hides a priest hide behind wood panelling next to the fireplace. On the opposite side of the fireplace the original 16^th century ladder for accessing the hide can be seen.

The Great Chamber, next door to the Withdrawing Room, conceals a hide above the ceiling of the Butler’s pantry in the corner of the chamber. Entry for this hide was from the top floor and the difference in levels was obscured by a panelled porch which covered the door from the Chamber to the Pantry and also from the Chamber to the Great Staircase.

A very ingenious hide was unearthed in 1894 within Dodd’s Library. Inside a space that was originally a book cupboard is a hinged wall panel that, when pushed at the top, swings up to reveal a space behind.

On the top floor of the house is a priest’s room which has a hidden space under the floor where the vestments, the church plate and other items for mass could be concealed when not in use. On this floor is another smaller chapel with walls decorated with rows of red and white drops representing the blood and water of the Passion.

Round the corner from the small chapel is the Marble Room where a false fireplace in the corner of the room gives access to the attic space and a further priest hole in the corner of the roof. The fireplace has been blackened to simulate smoke discolouring so that it appears to have been used.

Five steps, which are original, lead down to the grand staircase. Two of the steps when lifted reveal a small cavity (the back of which is now missing), where money and valuables could be hidden. Originally this drew the eye from the larger cavity that was concealed behind; a priest hide measuring 5ft 9ins by 5ft and 6ft high. This hide is above the butler’s pantry next to the Great Chamber, and as are the other hides located around the grand staircase thought to be the work of Nicholas Owen.

Owen was servant to Fr Henry Garnet, the Jesuit superior in England, who during the 1590s built up a network of houses throughout the country to which incoming priests could be directed and where they could find disguises, chapels and priest holes.

The centre of this operation for Worcestershire and the Welsh Marches was Hindlip House, the home of Humphrey’s friend Thomas Habington, where the Jesuit Edward Oldcorne arrived in 1590.It was there that Garnet, Owen and Oldcorne were all captured in 1606, just after the Gunpowder Plot.

Owen was starved out of one of his own hides on the fourth day of a twelve day search, during which he and a companion, Ralph Ashley, had nothing to eat but one apple between them. He died under torture in the Tower; Garnet, Oldcorne and Ashley were all hanged, drawn and quartered. Although Hindlip was demolished in 1814, descriptions of the hides there show a striking similarity to those that survive at Harvington.**

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• *From 2017 Harvington Hall leaflet
• ** From Harvington Hall Website
• Further source of information – Harvington Hall guidebook by Michael Hodgetts

NB: All photos including the individual photos in the mosaics can be viewed full size here.

On Sunday, it was Father’s day so we took my Father-in-Law to Harvington Hall, a moated manor house with the largest surviving series of priest holes in the country. The weather was kind to us, the day was gloriously hot and sunny and a good time was had by all. When we arrived we had lunch before going a guided tour of the house. The tour isn’t compulsory but I would recommend it. Mr C and I had visited earlier in the year when, we also took a guided tour. Both tours were good but on this occasion we were taken round by a delightful young man who brought out points that were of particular interest to us.

As our guide, Phil Downing was  showing us around he explained that he had spent twenty four hours in one of the priest holes and told us of some of his experiences. It was also fun to see the small children excited about exploring one of the priest holes in the property; one of them didn’t want to leave. You can watch an excellent short video of Phil giving a tour of the house on the video that follows.

View on YouTube

After we had returned home, later in the day we prepared a father’s day meal which we ate on the patio in the warm evening air. When we had finished the meal, as we sat and chatted for a while over a glass of wine I felt a pin prick near to my ankle. I thought no more of it until a little while later I felt a rather more piercing prick on the other ankle and when I looked there was a tell tale tiny black fly and I noticed a few others flying around at leg height.

The next day I noticed that I had five or six bite marks around my ankles and one higher up on the back of my leg. Later in the day my ankles got rather hot and red and my feet swelled up a little causing one of my shoes to rub my foot near to my ankle. When I got home from work I noticed shoe rubbing had caused a small blister. I put my feet up and the redness turned to a pinky tinge leading me into a false sense of security.

When I woke up the next morning my feet and ankles had swelled up and were bright red and there were darker red, itchy patches around the area of the bites. Even more alarmingly the blister had grown to the size of a large marble. The patches were reminiscent of the previous occasion when small black flies found me tasty.  On that occasion I identified the culprit as ‘black fly’ more commonly known in the UK as the ‘Blandford Fly’, this lead me to suspect that the unpleasant little blighters are breeding in next doors pond.

I had been trying not to have any extra time of work this week (other than two days already booked), already cancelling one appointment and getting Mr C to help me out with another but it seems that was not to be. I phoned and made an appointment in the minor injuries clinic at my local GP surgery. It was noted that my temperature was a slightly high and so was my pulse rate and I was prescribed with antihistamine and antibiotics. A little later in the day I felt slightly shivery so I must have had a slight fever along with everything else.

When I arrived at work everyone was quite shocked with what they saw and when Mr C came home from work he brought me some roses to cheer me up.