window-shutter, and it is large enough to hold several
persons; there is another large hiding-hole in the ceiling of a
room on the ground floor, which is reached through a trap-door
in the floor above. It is provided with a stone bench.

In castles and even ecclesiastical buildings sections of massive
stone columns have been found to rotate and reveal a hole in an
adjacent wall--even an altar has occasionally been put to use
for concealing purposes. At Naworth Castle, for instance, in
"Lord William's Tower," there is an oratory behind the altar, in
which fugitives not only could be hidden but could see anything
that transpired in its vicinity. In Chichester Cathedral there is
a room called Lollards' Prison, which is approached by a sliding
panel in the old consistory-room situated over the south porch.
The manor house of Great Chalfield, in Wiltshire, has a unique
device by which any suspected person could be watched. The eye
of a stone mask in the masonry is hollowed out and through this
a suspicious lord of the manor could, unseen, be a witness to
any treachery on the part of his retainers or guests.

[Illustration: PAXHILL, SUSSEX]

[Illustration: CLEEVE PRIOR MANOR HOUSE, WORCESTERSHIRE]

The old moated hall Baddesley Clinton, in Warwickshire, the ancient
seat of the Ferrers, has a stone well or shaft near "the chapel."
There were formerly projections or steps by which a fugitive
could reach a secret passage extending round nearly two sides
of the house to a small water-gate by the moat, where a boat
was kept in readiness. Adjoining the "banqueting-room" on the
east side of the building is a secret chamber six feet square
with a bench all round it. It is now walled up, but the narrow
staircase, behind the wainscoting, leading up to it is unaltered.

Cleeve Prior Manor House, in Worcestershire (though close upon
the border of Warwickshire)) famous for its unique yew avenue,
has a priest's hole, a cramped space five feet by two, in which
it is necessary to lie down. As at Ingatestone, it is below the
floor of a small chamber adjoining the principal bedroom, and
is entered by removing one of the floor-boards.

Wollas Hall, an Elizabethan mansion on Bredon Hill, near Pershore
(held uninterruptedly by the Hanford family since the sixteenth
century), has a chapel in the upper part of the house, and a
secret chamber, or priest's hole, provided with a diminutive
fire-place. When the officiating priest was about to