Skeleton in the priest hole
A few months ago I was asked to research a lovely timber-framed house in Wiltshire. Tucked away in a small village, the house was built in the early 1600s and has been closely linked with a Civil War commander, but it was the story of a 300 year-old skeleton uncovered in the house that caused the biggest shock!
Unfortuntely, I’m not able to reveal the exact details of the house, but as there was so much interest in the story of the skeleton the owner has given me permission to tell the story.
The house has been traced back to the early 17th century, at the time James I became King of England. The first owners of the house, whose ancestors had lived in the area since the 16th century were a prominent Catholic family and the house is believed to have been constructed with a priest hole, or one was installed shortly after the house was completed. To be a Catholic during the 16th and 17th centuries was a dangerous choice with many measures against any Roman Catholic or ‘Papist’ practices enforced during the reign of Elizabeth I. After the Gunpowder Plot against James I in 1605 the restrictions were tightened with harsh repercussions.
This meant that many Catholic families took steps to provide hiding places in their homes where Mass could be held in secret and also a place for a priest to hideaway if ’priest-hunters’ came knocking. This created the curious priest holes that appeared in country houses across the country.
It was only a short time ago that the current owner of this house met a former occupant and the story of the skeleton came out. During the late 1940s, the owners were renovating the house and it was while ripping away at old partitions that they uncovered the gruesome sight of an old priest hole…with the priest still in it!! He was apparently still clothed as he had been 300 years earlier!
Very few details of the former priest have been uncovered, but it can only be surmised that the family placed the poor man in the hole but were then prevented from allowing him out again.
This historic 17th century house has many other stories to tell, having also been closely linked with Royalist cavaly commander during the Civil War, Prince Rupert; been the home of generations of the same local family; and even the story of a ghost been sighted on a number of occasions. But, for now I need to refrain until the owner gives me the go-ahead to tell the full story. However, I hope you enjoyed the snippet of history related to the poor priest who climbed into a safe hiding place only to never come out again.
The priest hole practice strikes me as fascinating, even now. On one hand it was truly dangerous for people to be Catholic, especially after the attempt to blow up Parliament as you mention. On the other hand if there were priest holes in country houses across the nation, surely the professional priest-hunters would have known what to look for.
I think I would have sent a nephew over to France to study for the priesthood, then had him pop over for family visits each week.
I always found priestholes an interesting concept, and any times my parents would take me to a stately home I’d try and find them. Never managed it though.
@Hels. That was actually fairly common, there was at least one Catholic Seminary`in Rome that was run exclusively for the English. I’m more familiar with the Scottish side of things, but when given the choice between coming back to a country where you were going to be persecuted, even as a layman, and staying in Europe as a priest, a military chaplain, a Jesuit preacher, or in some cases even a prelate, very few people chose to return to Scotland.
The colleges even started enforcing an oath that said graduates had to go back as missionaries, but very few actually did.