Priest hole

Act 1584, which made being or sheltering a Catholic priest in England or Wales high treason, punishable by hanging, drawing and quartering.

In response to this, and following a conference and prayer meeting of the Jesuits and other seminaries held at Harleyford in July 1586[6]: 3 [8]: 72  (at which the music was directed by William Byrd[8]: 71 ), a new strategy was adopted under which priests would be stationed long-term in a single country house (previously they had been largely itinerant, but this involved staying at inns, and many were arrested on their journeys), and such houses would be systematically equipped with hides.

[6]: 6–8  Simultaneously, an 'underground railroad' was set up to smuggle priests into the country and move them to holding centres (called 'receptacles') until a long term posting became available.

"[11]: 1  The conflict between the public nature of some of these functions and the need for security, meant that priest holes and recusant chapels are almost always found on the upper floors of houses, well away from the majority of the easily-bribed estate workers and affording an extra few minutes to reach a hide when search parties arrived.

Hides large enough to hold a person were known as 'conveyances', but there are also many examples of small hidden spaces to accommodate vestments, sacred vessels, and altar furniture, which were known as 'secret corners'.

[6]: 1  A common early pattern of hide is a space under the floor of a garderobe for example at Harvington Hall in Worcestershire, which has seven priest holes throughout the house, including access through the main staircase, panelling, and a false fireplace.

[6]: 43  Underground hides are extremely rare, although Owen converted a sewer at Baddesley Clinton[6]: 65  and there were attested examples at Grosmont Priory[6]: 129  and Sledwich.

[2]: 37 [2]: 58 [13]: 207  Search-parties would bring with them skilled carpenters and masons[13]: 212  and try every possible expedient, from systematic measurements and soundings to the physical tearing down of panelling and pulling up of floors.

[2]: 37  Henry Garnet and Edward Oldcorne were found in an Owen hide at Hindlip Hall on the eighth day of a search [3]: 154  following the Gunpowder Plot.