But sometimes such rooms furthered the designs of those who abetted and connived at deeds that would not bear the light, and Southey records an anecdote which is a good illustration of the bad uses to which they were probably often put:  “At Bishop’s Middleham, a man died with the reputation of a water drinker; and it was discovered that he had killed himself by secret drunkenness.  There was a Roman Catholic hiding place, the entrance to which was from his bedroom.  He converted it into a cellar, and the quantity of brandy which he had consumed was ascertained.”  Indeed, it is impossible to say to what ends these secret rooms were occasionally devoted; and there is little doubt but that they were the scenes of many of those thrilling stories upon which many of our local traditions have been founded.

Political refugees, too, were not infrequently secreted in these hiding places, and in the Manor House, Trent, near Sherborne, there is a strangely constructed chamber, entered from one of the upper rooms through a sliding panel in the oak wainscoting, in which tradition tells us Charles ii. lay concealed for a fortnight on his escape to the coast, after the battle of Worcester.  And Boscobel House, which also afforded Charles ii. a safe retreat, has two secret chambers; and there are indications which point to the former existence of a third.  The hiding place in which the King was hidden is situated in the squire’s bedroom.  It appears there was formerly a sliding panel in the wainscot, near the fireplace, which, when opened, gave access to a closet, the false floor of which still admits of a person taking up his position in this secret nook.  The wainscoting, too, which concealed the movable panel in the bedroom was originally covered with tapestry, with which the room was hung.  A curious story is told of Street Place, an old house, a mile and a half north of Plumpton, in the neighbourhood of Lewes, which dates from the time of James I., and was the seat of the Dobells.  Behind the great chimney-piece of the hall was a deep recess, used for purposes of concealment; and it is said that one day a cavalier horseman, hotly pursued by some troopers, broke into the hall, spurred his horse into the recess, and disappeared for ever.

Bistmorton Court, an old moated manor house in the Malvern district, has a cunningly contrived secret room, which is opened by means of a spring, and this hidden nook is commonly reported to have played an important part in the War of the Roses, when numerous persons were concealed there at this troublous period.  And a curious discovery was made some years ago at Danby Hall, in Wensleydale, Yorkshire, when, on a small secret room being brought to light, it was found to contain arms and saddlery for a troop of forty or fifty horse.  It is generally supposed that these weapons had been hidden away in readiness for the Jacobite rising of 1715 or 1745.