HIDES MEANING WINDOWS

Some large estates, like Hindlip House, had up to twelve separate priest holes, and often other building alterations needed to be undertaken so as not to arouse suspicion. ( Wikimedia Commons )įalse perspectives and illusion, much like those employed by stage magicians today, were used to hide the secret chambers. manor house, Harvington Hall, Worcestershire, UK.

Sometimes, they would die of starvation or suffocation if the priest hunts went on for too long.Ī 'priest hole' (hiding) behind the panelling in a room called withdrawing room in 16th c. Priests sometimes had to stay for days at a time with little to no food and water, and no sanitation. However, more often than not the priest holes were tiny with no room to stand or move. Sometimes, a network of passages led to the final hiding place, at other times the priest hole was hidden inside another chamber, making it more difficult to find.

Priest holes needed to be disguised very well and were frequently built into fireplaces, attics, and staircases. ( Wikipedia ) The construction of priest holes The consequences if a priest were captured.

HIDES MEANING WINDOWS

They counted windows from the outside and inside, and measured the height of ceilings and the length of walls, in the hope of detecting hidden chambers.Ĭlearly, the priest holes had to be very cleverly constructed to evade such extensive searches. They would move furniture, lift floorboards, bang the walls for sounds of a hollow cavity, and plunge their swords between cracks and crevices. Priest hunters took their job very seriously, sometimes searching a house for days or even weeks. Now with the risk of torture and death, the priests had to be carefully hidden away if the pursuivants ever came knocking on the door. Once the pursuivants or ‘priest hunters’ were established, it was no longer enough for these families to claim the priests were simply friends or cousins. Jesuit priests snuck into England to support Catholic families and many of these families hid the priests in their homes. In 1540, the Jesuit religious order was created to assist the Catholic Church in opposing the Protestant movement. The 'Darnley Portrait' of Elizabeth I ( Wikipedia ) Priests hid in Catholic homes The Protestant Reformation came to influence the Church of England decisively under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Arrest meant imprisonment, and often torture and execution. To enforce the Act, ‘priest hunters’ were given the job to hunt down and capture any such priests. The separation of the Church of England from Rome under Henry VIII in 1537 brought England alongside this broad Reformation movement, which came to influence the Church of England decisively under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.ĭuring Elizabeth’s reign, the constant threat posed by recurring plots involving the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots heightened the severity of the situation and an Act was passed making it High Treason for a Catholic priest to enter England or for anyone to aid a priest that did.

However, over time, protests against the Catholic Church and its influence eventually led to the formation of the Protestant movement.

As a result of this oppression, wealthy Catholic families began building secret chambers and passages in their homes called ‘priest holes’ in order to hide priests when the pursuivants or ‘priest hunters’ came searching.ĭuring the 16th century, Europe was under the religious leadership of the Roman Catholic Church. Under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, which began in 1558, Catholics were persecuted by law and priests were imprisoned, tortured, and frequently executed.

Hides meaning