mposed of brickwork
fixed into a wooden frame. Upon pressure being applied to one
side of this floor, the opposite side heaves up with a groan at
its own weight. Beneath lies a hollow, seven feet square, where
a priest might lie concealed with the gratifying knowledge that,
however the ponderous trap-door be hammered from above, there
would be no tell-tale hollowness as a response. Having bolted
himself in, he might to all intents and purposes be imbedded in
a rock (though truly a toad so situated is not always safe from
intrusion). Three centuries have rolled away and thirteen sovereigns
have reigned since the construction of this hiding-place, but the
mechanism of this masterpiece of ingenuity remains as perfect
as if it had been made yesterday! Those who may be privileged
with permission to inspect the interesting hall will find other
surprises where least expected. An oak-panelled passage upon the
basement of the aforesaid entrance gateway contains a secret
door that gives admittance into the living-rooms in the most
eccentric manner.

A priest's hole beneath the floor of a small oratory adjoining
"the chapel" (now a bedroom) at Borwick Hall, Lancashire, has an
opening devised much in the same fashion as that at Oxburgh. By
leaning his weight upon a certain portion of the boards, a fugitive
could slide into a convenient gap, while the floor would adjust
itself above his head and leave no trace of his where-abouts.

[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO HIDING-PLACE, PARHAM HALL, SUSSEX]

Window-seats not uncommonly formed the entrance to holes beneath
the level of the floor. In the long gallery of Parham Hall, Sussex,
an example of this may be seen. It is not far from "the chapel,"
and the officiating priest in this instance would withdraw a
panel whose position is now occupied by a door; but the entrance
to the hiding-place within the projecting bay of the window is
much the same as it ever was. After the failure of the Babington
conspiracy one Charles Paget was concealed here for some days.

The Tudor house of Tusmore, in Oxfordshire, also had a secret
chamber, approached through a fixed settle in "the parlour" window.
A tradition in the neighbourhood says that the great fish-pond
near the site of the old house was dug by a priest and his servant
in the days of religious persecution, constituting their daily
occupation for twelve years!

Paxhill, in Sussex, the ancient seat of the Bordes, has a priest's
hole behind a