Harvington Hall
Oct. 22nd, 2006 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sildilAn unexpected afternoon visit in the rain to our (VERY) local house of interest, Harvington Hall has resulted in huge picspam!
The outside and the moat
The kitchen
Gorgeous Jacobean carved cabinet
I love the wall decoration you can see, there is loads of it here...
...for example. this is David
...and this is Samson
I love this bed, Lizzie ached and wanted to go to sleep in it!
Detail of the bed
And one of the MANY secret Catholic priest's holes in this Catholic house, here it is closed...
...and here it is, open to show where the priest would have hidden when in danger.
Harvington Hall was a Catholic house during the Elizabethan period following the reformation in England, when it was really not a good idea to be 'heretical'. In other words, if you were found to be harbouring a priest or holding Catholic Mass, your lands could be forfeited and you could be put to death if you did not recant your Catholicism. Harvington remained staunchly Catholic in spite of this risk, and the house has several really good examples of priest's hiding places. The family that lived there, were actually a branch of the Throckmortons, one of whom was one of the Gunpowder Plotters, Guy Fawkes and all that lot!
The outside and the moat
The kitchen
Gorgeous Jacobean carved cabinet
I love the wall decoration you can see, there is loads of it here...
...for example. this is David
...and this is Samson
I love this bed, Lizzie ached and wanted to go to sleep in it!
Detail of the bed
And one of the MANY secret Catholic priest's holes in this Catholic house, here it is closed...
...and here it is, open to show where the priest would have hidden when in danger.
Harvington Hall was a Catholic house during the Elizabethan period following the reformation in England, when it was really not a good idea to be 'heretical'. In other words, if you were found to be harbouring a priest or holding Catholic Mass, your lands could be forfeited and you could be put to death if you did not recant your Catholicism. Harvington remained staunchly Catholic in spite of this risk, and the house has several really good examples of priest's hiding places. The family that lived there, were actually a branch of the Throckmortons, one of whom was one of the Gunpowder Plotters, Guy Fawkes and all that lot!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-22 05:03 pm (UTC)Priest's holes always look distinctly claustrophobic to me, better than the alternative though, I suppose!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-22 05:07 pm (UTC)Thankee for the historical pretty.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-22 05:07 pm (UTC)The stairs are almost nightmarish, so twisty and warped...Lizzie was exhausted by the time she got to the top!
I will take you, definitely x
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-22 05:08 pm (UTC)Totally LOL'd at the Elizabethan graffiti. That is awesome. All of the details int he wood and plaster adn even the exposed beams in the bricks!
*sigh*
I wish more places like this still existed.
Lovely picspam!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-22 05:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2006-10-22 06:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2006-10-22 08:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-22 10:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-23 05:17 am (UTC)*sighs*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-23 08:50 am (UTC)