g the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745 some of the "priest's
holes" in the old Roman Catholic houses, especially in the north
of England and in Scotland, came into requisition not only for
storing arms and ammunition, but, after the failure of each
enterprise, for concealing adherents of the luckless House of
Stuart.

In the earlier mansion of Worksop, Nottinghamshire (burnt down
in 1761), there was a large concealed chamber provided with a
fireplace and a bed, which could only be entered by removing
the sheets of lead forming the roofing. Beneath was a trap-door
opening to a precipitous flight of narrow steps in the thickness
of a wall. This led to a secret chamber, that had an inner
hiding-place at the back of a sliding panel. A witness in a trial
succeeding "the '45" declared to having seen a large quantity
of arms there in readiness for the insurrection.

The last days of the notorious Lord Lovat are associated with
some of the old houses in the north. Cawdor Castle, Nairnshire,
and Netherwhitton, in Northumberland, claim the honour of hiding
this double-faced traitor prior to his arrest. At the former is a
small chamber near the roof, and in the latter is a hiding-place
measuring eight feet by three and ten feet high. Nor must be
forgotten the tradition of Mistress Beatrice Cope, behind the
walls of whose bedroom Lovat (so goes the story) was concealed,
and the fugitive, being asthmatical, would have revealed his
whereabouts to the soldiers in search of him, had not Mistress
Cope herself kept up a persistent and violent fit of coughing
to drown the noise.

A secret room in the old Tudor house Ty Mawr, Monmouthshire,
is associated with the Jacobite risings. It is at the back of
"the parlour" fireplace, and is entered through a square stone
slab at the foot of the staircase. The chamber is provided with a
small fireplace, the flue of which is connected with the ordinary
chimney, so as to conceal the smoke. The same sort of thing may
be seen at Bisham Abbey, Berks.

Early in the last century a large hiding-place was found at Danby
Hall, Yorkshire. It contained a large quantity of swords and
pistols. Upwards of fifty sets of harness of untanned leather of
the early part of the eighteenth century were further discovered,
all of them in so good a state of preservation that they were
afterwards used as cart-horse gear upon the farm.

No less than nine of the followers of "Bonnie Prince Charlie" are
said to have