Baddesley Clinton

Not far from Packwood House in Warwickshire (see here) is another National Trust property, Baddesley Clinton. A medieval moated manor house over 500 years old, it was passed down within the Ferrers family for 12 generations until 1940, when it was bought by a distant cousin, restored and eventually sold to the National Trust in the 1980s. 

It is arranged around an inner courtyard, with different wings of the house being built and rebuilt at different times. The family were always staunch Roman Catholics. In the late 1500s, when Britain broke from the church in Rome, Catholic priests were persecuted. Several hidden 'priest holes' were installed in the house to give sanctuary and it appears they were used and worked, as the priests were not discovered in 1591 when the 'priest-hunters' called.