celebrate
Mass, it was the custom here to spread linen upon the hedges as
a sign to those in the adjacent villages who wished to attend.

A hiding-place at Treago, Herefordshire (an unique specimen of
a thirteenth-century fortified mansion) inhabited by the Mynor
family for more than four hundred years), has quite luxurious
accommodation--a sleeping-place and a reading-desk. It is called
"Pope's Hole." The walls on the south-east side of the house are
of immense thickness, and there are many indications of secret
passages within them.

[Illustration: BADDESLEY CLINTON, WARWICKSHIRE]

Some fifty years ago a hiding-hole was opened in a chimney adjoining
"the chapel" of Lydiate Hall, Lancashire; and since then one
was discovered behind the rafters of the roof. Another ancient
house close by contained a priest's hole where were found some
religious books and an old carved oak chair.

Myddleton Lodge, near Ilkley, had a secret chapel in the roof,
which is now divided up into several apartments. In the grounds
is to be seen a curious maze of thickly planted evergreens in
the shape of a cross. From the fact that at one end remain three
wooden crosses, there is but little doubt that at the time of
religious persecution the privacy of the maze was used for secret
worship.

When Slindon House, Sussex, was undergoing some restorations, a
"priest's hole" communicating with the roof was discovered. It
contained some ancient devotional books, and against the walls
were hung stout leathern straps, by which a person could let
himself down.

The internal arrangements at Plowden Hall, Shropshire, give one
a good idea of the feeling of insecurity that must have been
so prevalent in those "good old days." Running from the top of
the house there is in the thickness of the wall, a concealed
circular shoot about a couple of feet in diameter, through which
a person could lower himself, if necessary, to the ground floor
by the aid of a rope. Here also, beneath the floor-boards of a
cupboard in one of the bedrooms, is a concealed chamber with a
fixed shelf, presumably provided to act as a sort of table for
the unfortunate individual who was forced to occupy the narrow
limits of the room. Years before this hiding-place was opened
to the light of day (in the course of some alterations to the
house), its existence and actual position was well known; still,
strange to say, the way into it had never been discovered.

CHAPTER VII