Priest hole

In the right pilaster there is a secret door to a priest's hole (Partingdale House, Middlesex )

A priest hole ( English priest hole ) is a loophole ( hiding ) for priests . These can still be found today in older, formerly Catholic houses in England .

After Henry VIII had established the Church of England and claimed the supremacy for the Crown of England, Catholicism was considered disobedience to the king and was suspected of treason. Roman Catholic priests and religious were persecuted in England from around the beginning of Queen Elizabeth I's reign in 1558. The measures against them were stepped up after revolts and unrest had broken out (e.g. Ridolfi conspiracy 1570/71, Babington conspiracy 1586 etc.). In some cases, fictitious conspiracies (e.g. Papist conspiracy 1678) served as an occasion for restrictive measures against Catholics before (e.g. Exeter conspiracy 1538) and also later .

Arrangement of priestly holes

Priest holes were built or expanded in castles and country houses of Catholic families in England. They were often spartan , but artfully designed hiding places and entrances into which the celebrating priest could slip in an emergency. These hiding places also served as storage space for the sacred vessels and altar furniture.

Many such hiding spots are traced back to the bricklayer , lay brother of the Jesuits and later martyr Nicholas Owen , who is said to have constructed these secret places and access points to protect the lives of the persecuted. In East Riddlesden Hall, such a hiding place was part of the chimney ; in Ripley Castle and Harvington Hall, Worcestershire, part of the wall paneling. At Chesterton Hall (near Cambridge ) the priest hole was part of the toilet .

Owen was captured after the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 at Hindlip Hall, Worcestershire , and tortured to death on the rack in the Tower of London in 1606. He was canonized as a martyr in 1970 (see also: Forty Martyrs of England and Wales ) .

Literary mention

Priest holes are also mentioned in literature and are or were particularly popular subjects in the field of detective novels . For example, B. also Agatha Christie in " Poirot and the Kidnapper " refers to it:

Poirot: “ About that later, let's do one thing after the other, let's proceed methodically. Is there no special hiding place in the house? “Waverly Court” is an old building and there are sometimes secret chambers in which priests used to hide during the Catholic persecution. "

Mr. Waverly: “ By God, such a priest hiding place does exist! You enter it through a secret door in the paneling of the hall. "

Poirot: Is that door near the council chamber? "

Mr. Waverly: " Right next to it ."

Poirot: " Voilà !

Mr. Waverly: " But apart from my wife and me nobody knows anything about it ." ...