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At Harvington Hall

By Christine Swan

Having lived in my current location for over thirty years, it is rather a mystery why I have never visited Harvington Hall before now. It is a rambling, red brick, stone, and timber, mosaic of a house, spanning from the medieval to Georgian period. Its most magnificent features are Tudor, and, if walls could talk, they would have a fascinating tale to tell indeed.

Harvington is a moated manor house, entered across a drawbridge, which is now, a fixed bridge. It is known that the house was occupied and changed hands before its Elizabethan occupants, the Packingtons, took charge in 1529. In 1578, it was inherited by Humphrey Packington, grand nephew of Sir John, the previous resident. Humphrey improved the property, which was at that time, even larger than it is today. It is still an incredibly impressive Elizabethan manor house, complete with secrets and stories to tell.

The exterior of Harvington Hall under brooding skies

Visitors begin their tour in the kitchen, which is a vast size, with two huge fireplaces. One fireplace was for general cooking and the other, for spit roasting. It was apparently, a small person’s role to turn the spit. This process was later automated with an elaborate system of a weight, pulleys and gears, that extended up into a vertical space above the fireplace, to accommodate the mechanism. There is also a smaller bread oven, not much larger than the size of a pizza oven.

The kitchen interior complete with spit roasting fireplace

Humphrey Packington was a Catholic. In 1580, Queen Elizabeth began a campaign against Catholicism in England and by 1585, it was forbidden, on pain of death, for a Catholic priest to enter the country, and also for anyone harbouring one. Before this time, there had been Catholic plots against Elizabeth, which prompted this extreme intolerance. It struck me that the exact reverse was taking place in France, where Protestants were being driven out by Catholics. My ancestors fled from France to England at the end of the sixteenth century and into the seventeenth. Catholics may have fled in the other direction, but not all.

The elaborate spit-turning mechanism seems to take up a lot of space doesn’t it?

Humphrey Packington continued to practice his religion despite being required to convert to the Protestant faith. More than this, he improved his home by adding an additional space above his bread oven, close to the space created to accommodate the spit-turning mechanism, large enough to fit a person inside. These spaces, or priest holes, are all over Harvington. In a bizarre version of hide and seek, visitors are invited to guess where they are located, most are viewable via clear panels and judiciously placed lighting. There are seven in total – not the maximum found in a house, but an impressive achievement. The Packingtons were taking a huge risk themselves in hiding priests, and this would have been considered a treasonous act. I have admiration for their conviction and their faith, risking so much in dangerous times. Catholic priests would have been aware of a network of safe houses and hides which would have allowed them to evade capture and practice their religion. Across the channel, protestants would have moved in secret, via a network of safe houses and guides, who would have allowed them to reach the coast, to undertake the risky crossing of the Channel. In both cases, these helpers faced the penalty of death. There is courage and true faith in both cases.

Priest hole number one – above the bread oven.

Also in the kitchen, is a huge dresser, filled with decorated plates, pitchers and bowls. Incredibly, these were dredged from the moat and painstakingly reconstructed into entire pieces. Maybe the household tired of the yellow and brown crockery and threw it out? It is incredible that we can look at it today and picture who ate from these plates over four hundred years ago.

The pottery in the cupboard has survived for four hundred years

The kitchen also has an internal well, which is another unusual feature. The water is drawn from the moat and was demonstrated to be very clear and apparently pure. The reason for this is that the water has been filtered through the local red sandstone.

The well is underneath the wood and brick cover on the floor

A brewery is located in the next room. Although the water may appear pure, most people drank ale. Disease was rife and particularly in cities, this was a far safer option.

The brewery

Upstairs we find Humphrey’s wife, Abigail’s bedroom. When he died in 1631, she inherited the house, before eventually leaving it to her daughter, Lady Mary Yate. Visitors are shown another priest hole covered with a sheet of clear perspex on the floor, so that you can walk over the concealed space and access ladder. Not being a huge fan of heights, I declined.

Abigail’s bedroom

En suite privvy – how very modern!

A walk of faith over the next priest hole

Next door is the withdrawing room, with its homely table and magnificent curved beam ceiling. We were treated to Elizabethan music played on recorders by two expert musicians. The recorder is a hugely underestimated instrument in my opinion. It is easy to learn but deceptively difficult to master well.

A musical accompaniment to visiting the withdrawing room with its impressive ceiling

The next room to visit is the banqueting hall. Small sections show that this was an elaborately decorated room. It also contains an ornate tea chest which conceals hidden sections. Tea was incredibly valuable – no wonder it would have been concealed from those who might use it extravagantly!

Tea was to be kept hidden away like a precious jewel

Small pieces show the ornate panels that would have decorated the hall

The house is still owned by the Catholic Church and the banqueting hall includes more recent portraits alongside less recent residents

The mermaid passage gives an indication of just how elaborate decoration was in the house. This is a wonderfully ornate and decorated property, it must be one of the finest in the country. They were discovered in 1936, under a layer of plaster. The mermaid passage depicts fantastic scenes of these mythical sirens of the deep. Our guide was enthusiastic in describing these paintings. She then showed us into the library, a small, wood panelled room, which would have been filled with books. A platform allowed more storage, accessed by a ladder. Our guide perched on top of it, and invited us to spot the next priest hole. We tried but after several wrong guesses, it was revealed by a tilting plank. This enclosure was designed and built by Nicholas Owen, builder and carpenter. He built priest hides for over twenty years before being captured, tortured and executed in the Tower of London. In 1970, Nicholas Owen was canonised and became a saint. It is fitting that he is the patron saint of magicians and escapologists.

The mermaid passage is exquisitely decorated

There is a priest hole behind the plank being held up. This was designed and built by Nicholas Owen

Further paintings can be found on the upper floor, after navigating the wrong-way-round spiral staircase, which is very discombobulating. These upper floor paintings depict religious and battle scenes. They provide an incredible glimpse of just how ornate and original this house is.

The level of detail is incredible

There is another bedroom with its own privvy, which the downstairs bedroom also has. An Elizabethan house with en suite bedrooms. It’s hard not to be impressed. Apparently, clothes were hung in the privvy because even they object to the small of human waste.

An upper floor bedroom with ornate bed

Another room in the upper floor contains the religious artefacts that the household would have concealed but still used when they coast was clear.

Religious items found in the house

A simple upstairs bedroom with beautifully ornate wall decoration

Visitors make their final exit down the grand staircase. Even this is decorated with painted tromp l’oeil designs and wall patterns. Tea and cake in the malt house across the garden created the perfect end to a fascinating afternoon.

The decoration on the main staircase

The malthouse tea room

The eclectic windows of the rear of the house

I hope that my posts are encouraging readers to see that Worcestershire has much to offer as a tourist destination. I have long believed that it does not attract as many visitors as it should. I believe that London, Oxford, and Stratford Upon Avon, pop up as top destinations, but that Worcestershire is lower down the list. There is much to see and many fascinating sites to visit. Please do put it on your list and come and visit.

More information

Harvington Hall – https://www.harvingtonhall.co.uk/

Visit Worcestershire – https://visitworcestershire.org/

All photographs by the author

#Catholic #Elizabethan #HarvingtonHall #history #PriestHole #Travel #Tudor #VisitWorcestershire

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