The first day of the bank holiday commemorating the Platinum Jubilee of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II saw us visiting Boscobel House. Boscobel House is famous as a hiding place for King Charles II when fleeing for his life after his defeat in the Civil War. He spent a night in one of priest holes in the hunting lodge.

King Charles II also spent a day hiding in a nearby Oak tree as Cromwell’s soldiers searched for him below. A descendant of the oak tree can be seen nearby in a place that would once have been covered in oak woodland. The vision of English Heritage is to repopulate the area with oak trees to reconnect the site with its heritage.

Within the house garden another Royal Connection can be found; a plaque beneath an oak tree commemorating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

This tree seedling from the Royal Oak in the adjacent field was planted by Augustus Bishop of Lichfield as a memorial of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

The parent tree by sheltering King Charles II preserved the Royal Line from extinction.

The daughter tree commemorates the unexpectedly long reign (about 200 years later) of his illustrious successor.

English Heritage are developing the site so there is more to explore than there was previously. We were time constrained so it was not possibly to venture on the walk to the nearby White Ladies Priory.

Dorney Court is a Grade I listed Tudor manor house and is situated in the village of Dorney which lies on a slight rise in the Thames floodplain, Dorney means Island of Bumble Bees and the estate is renowned for its honey which is still produced to this day. The house has changed little since its 15th century origins. The first known record of a house at Dorney is dated just after the Norman Conquest.

The house is panelled in wood and contains many interesting treasures, paintings and artefacts and it even has a ghost. The upper floor rooms have barrel vaulted chambers, one of which, the great chamber is held up by ancient twig branches.

Photo copyright Dorney Court

Stepping into the great hall is like stepping back in time. The wall panelling was once in Faversham Abbey and the fireplace predates the current Hall. Two tables are placed in the room, one on a dais for the Lord and Lady of the Manor and another for family, guests and villagers in the hall below. In Tudor times this is where they would have dined. This room used to hold the manor court which may still be legally held there today. The most recent court was held to sort out matters related to Dorney Common after the Second World War during which parts of the Common were requisitioned by the government.

Photo copyright Dorney Court

Dorney Court is home to the Palmers and has been handed down from father to son in succession since 1620 and prior to that, through marriage to the Garrards, since 1538.

The Palmer lineage goes back as far as Charlemagne, the founding father of both the French and German monarchies (747-814). John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, the Baldwins of Flanders and the Plantagenet Kings of England are other notable Palmer ancestors.

The name Palmer goes back to the crusades, Crusaders returning from the First Crusade were referred to as ‘Palmers’ for the tradition of returning home with palm-branches. From one of those crusaders descended the present occupiers of Dorney.

Not all of the Palmer family renounced their Catholic faith and they continued to practice their religion which led to their indictment for recusancy.

In the 1600s Roger Palmer (1634-1705) married Barbara Villiers whose notorious behaviour brought her to the notice of Charles II. She mothered a daughter who was born in 1661 (Anne). The King insisted that Anne be referred to as ‘Fitzroy’ (child of the King). Despite Roger’s loyalty to the monarchy, he was imprisoned on more than one occasion for his staunch support of Catholicism.

Henry Palmer (born 1646) was in the army at St. Omers when in September 1668 where he was wounded. On 1st May 1679 he was indicted for recusancy. On his way to his trial in England the passage boat was cast away and he drowned in sight of Calais.

Charles Palmer (1651-1714) was a Catholic and serving soldier. He resigned at the time of the Glorious Revolution which saw King James II being overthrown in favour of Prince William of Orange who became William III of England. In 1693 Charles was indicted for Recusancy.

In 1842 Henry Palmer became Vicar of Dorney, his name can be seen on the list of rectors and ministers within the Church of St. John the Less.

Photo copyright Dorney Court

Not surprisingly with the family’s rich Catholic heritage, in recent years the house has revealed a secret. Whilst undertaking property renovations in the parlour an entrance to a priest hole was found in the south west corner. It is thought to be connected to Burnham Abbey via a secret passage.

Sources:

…Priest-Hole Maker

Synopsis (from the back of the book):

During the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I it was high treason, and therefore meant death, to be a Catholic priest in England. It was consequently vital that there be somewhere to hide when the pursuivants came battering at the door. One name is prominent in the construction of priest-holes – that of Nicholas Owen. A very short and later crippled man, he built the majority of these shelters, so saving the lives of untold numbers of priests and fugitives. His early apprenticeship as joiner and his knowledge of construction served him will as he burrowed into walls and constructed near-invisible entrance holes. Although a well-know figure in Recusant studies, and almost invariably mentioned in histories of the Gunpowder Plot, this is his first detailed biography.

St Nicholas Owen was born in Oxford, the son of a carpenter. Two of his brothers were to train as Catholic priests on the continent. A third, Henry, the first apprentice at what was to become the Oxford University Press, went on to assist the Mission with the production of Catholic books and pamphlets. Nicholas was himself apprenticed to and Oxford joiner in 1577.

Acting as a servant to Fr Henry Garnet SJ for nearly twenty years, Owen had many adventures, narrowly evading capture, and assisted in the escape of the Jesuit Fr John Gerard from the Tower of London in 1597. St Nicholas was tortured at the Poultry Compter in 1594 but later released. He was finally taken in one of his own priest-holes during the rigorous pursuit of Catholics that followed the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, and died upon the rack in the Tower of London in 1606.

Evidence of St Nicholas Owen’s work is still visible in contury houses and mansions across England, and recent research has unveiled greater detail of his fascinating career assisting the English Mission aat the close of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries.

Review:

This fascinating account of both Nicholas Owen and his construction of priest-holes is well worth a read. The book also gives accounts of Jesuit priests and the Catholic families that helped and concealed them from pursuivants. The content is quite graphic at times, detailing hanging and torture procedures. We are told of Nicholas’ early life, his work in creating the hides right through to his torture, death and beyond to when he became one of the forty-martyr saints who received canonization in 1970. The book is fully illustrated with black and white photographs and diagrams of the hides, houses and some of the key players of this period in history.

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.**

—

• *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.

Our room was a little warm overnight due to the lovely weather. The breakfast spread was excellent, having both cooked and continental style options, although unfortunately the plates were cold.

When we were comfortably replete we drove to The Savill Garden which is situated in Windsor Great Park. Whilst we were travelling Mr C’s phone started to ring again, luckily, for some unaccountable reason (divine intervention?), the fully charged phone had completely drained its battery leaving us to enjoy the gardens in peace. The summer garden beds were particularly spectacular and we enjoyed walking through the woodlands in the wider garden. Before we left for our next destination we had lunch and browsed the extensive gift shop.

We had planned to visit Dorney Court next but realised that it wouldn’t be open when we arrived so we took a slight detour to see the Magna Carta Memorial at Runnymede. We made the short walk to the memorial which was erected by the American Bar Association in 1957. This area is another plane spotter’s paradise and, as we made our way back to the car park we observed many planes coming into land at Heathrow at approximately one minute intervals.

The hot weather prompted us to purchase a Mr Whippy ice cream before making our way to Dorney Court.

Dorney Court has a fascinating history having been in continuous ownership of the same family since 1537. The house visit is by guided tour and our guide shared many interesting bits of information including pointing out the 17th century priest hole which is rumoured to connect to a secret tunnel running to Burnham Abbey which is about a mile away.

After we had been in one of the rooms for a few minutes our guide mentioned that it was the room where the ghost had appeared. The story goes that whilst a young single man is sleeping in bed a lady dressed in grey appears and points to the corner of the room. Later in the place indicated by the ghost, a skull and other skeletal remains were found behind the wall.

After relating the tale the guide looked at me and said ‘in fact the ghost appeared exactly where you are standing and I see the colours you are dressed in’ (mauve/greys). Thankfully the room (for me) didn’t have an odd or creepy feel to it.

Before joining our guided tour we visited the charming parish Church of St James the Less which is situated just behind the house. The church has lots of interesting features and I would have liked to go back after the tour but unfortunately a wedding was taking place on the lawn blocking access to the church.

That evening we dined in the hotel restaurant which turned out to be a mistake.  The bread plates (but not the bread) were partially removed before our main courses arrived. The meal was disappointing and it was served on cold plates leading to our meal going cold very quickly. After we had finished the plates were removed and then, a little while later the bread was removed from the table. Dessert menus were not offered so after a while Mr C attracted someone’s attention and we were provided with menus but nobody came to take our order.

By this time we had given up on the idea and Mr C went to track someone down and request the bill. When he found someone he said ‘Could I have the bill for the table you have forgotten over there?’ Almost immediately the head waiter came over with the bill, apologising profusely, and advised that he had removed the cost of the meals from the bill and that we would only have to pay for the wine.

The saga of poor service continued in the bar area where the young bar tender was rather rude with an ‘I couldn’t care less’ attitude (Manuel who had served us the previous evening was serving in the restaurant). When mum asked if she could have a coffee he rather abruptly said no and when the next drink she wanted was not available either, no apologies just a curt response.

Chaos and mayhem continued as the bartender shared his this attitude with other customers and members of staff. For one group of customers the right type of glasses could not be found and drinks were not available until a little later they were miraculously unearthed in the cellar. Whilst all this was going on mum advised us that room service had removed her flannel from her room that morning. All very ‘Fawlty Towers’!

By the end of the evening I was trying very hard not to laugh out loud

For two days, in September 1651, the destiny of Britain was decided within the walls of Moseley Old Hall.

In January 1649 Charles I had been executed in Whitehall, the monarchy had been abolished and the country declared a Commonwealth. The hopes of the Royalist Cause now rested on the shoulders of his eighteen-year-old son, Charles II, who was in exile in France. In the late summer of 1651 Charles marched south from Scotland with an army of 16,000 men in a final effort to reclaim the throne. But on 3 September outside Worcester his army was annihilated, and for the next 41 days he was on the run, with a price of £1000 on his head.*

Early on the morning of 8 September the bedraggled figure of the King arrived at the back door of Moseley Old Hall. He had had no sleep and little to eat since the day of the battle. He was disguised in rough woodsman’s clothes with ill-fitting shoes that made his feet bleed. He was cold, wet and desperate. Standing waiting to greet him were the owner of the house, Thomas Whitgreave, and his priest, Father Huddleston.

Like many in this area of Staffordshire, Whitgreave was a Catholic, and his mother Alice, who was also in the house, had suffered heavy fines for their faith from the Parliamentary authorities. They welcomed the King inside, gave him dry clothes and food, and found him a safe hiding place in one of Moseley’s ‘priest’s holes’. Here he crouched the following afternoon, while Whitgreave confronted a Parliamentary search party in the road outside.*

The priest hole was hidden beneath a cupboard which was either a garderobe of a wardrobe.

In the floor of the cupboard is a trap-door concealing the hiding place below, some 4ft 6in by 5ft and only 4ft high, a cramped space in which Charles, who is believed to have been ‘over two yards high’, spent an uncomfortable time when Parliamentarian soldiers came to the house. Whitgreave tells us that, after being presented to the King in his room, Charles asked him ‘where is the secret place my lord [Wilmot] tells me of?’ On being shown the hide, he entered it ‘and when came forth, said itt was the best place hee was ever in’.*

Having devised a practical plan of escape Charles left the house two days later.

As well as a priest hole the house had a chapel in one of the upper rooms of the house.

John Huddleston took the King up to see the Chapel during his stay at Moseley. Charles described it as a ‘very decent place’ and told Huddleston that if he ever regained his throne, Catholics would no longer have to worship in secret. Charles married a Catholic, but as part of his efforts to reconcile the anti-Catholic majority, professed a moderate Anglican faith, unlike his openly Catholic brother, James, who was driven from the throne in 1688 because of his religion.

The Chapel, or more properly the Oratory, did not look as it does now when Charles saw it in 1651. The roof was open to the rafters, and is said by tradition to have once contained a secret hiding place, although there is no evidence of it. The barrel-vaulted ceiling was added following the Relieving act of 1791, which allowed Catholics greater freedom of worship.*

*From the National Trust guide book to Moseley Old Hall 1997 revised 2000. The photo of the priest hole was also taken from the same guide book (all other photos are my own as usual).