While the scavenger hunt held the attention of the children this weekend I was every bit as excited to see Oxburgh since the hall is now open for the season. It has a bit of a split personality, decor wise, being part medieval castle and part Victorian manor house.  This is because the manor has been used as a residence continuously – and by the same family – since it was built in 1482.  That's ten years before Columbus discovered American, for reference.  A really long time. 

The hall is built in a U-shape around a large open courtyard.  There is one entrance, across a drawbridge over the moat. A moat is a very cool thing.  Until you find out what was in there. Turns out medieval toilets were placed in the four corners of the hall complex. They were essentially shoots and "shot" down open piping into yes, the moat. Ew. 

(above – one set of shelves in the library was actually a false door into the dining room)

The family was Catholic which put them in a dangerous position when their faith was banned in England by Elizabeth I.  In 1589 the family, like many across the country, created a 'priest hole' in the event that their home would be raided when a missionary priest was saying mass.  This one was well concealed…..in the aforementioned medieval toilet shoot. 

(btw, that bright blue streak atop the clock is a spoon.  The children had to spot colored spoons in each room as they toured) 

Many of the interior toilets were constructed in garderobes, precursor to the closet or dressing room.  Inside this room there was a narrow set of steps to what appeared to be an indoor latrine. A square of the heavy stone floor was hinged which allowed it to be lifted up so a person could access the shoot and slip down into a small holding area constructed in the tower below the floor. No windows, no water, no light. Once the 18in thick floor was put back into place there was no way to escape and the priest would be at the mercy of the family to retrieve him eventually.  It seems that the soldiers that raided would sometimes wait at the property for days. 

Another nod to this era was a collection of embroideries by Mary, Queen of the Scots while in exile. 

Very sobering, all that.  You touch the prayer books and rosaries and know in your heart, that had you made your entry a few years earlier, this could be you.  It could be you.  

The happy ending is that this family carried on through good years and bad, as we all must. The world changes.  The world stays the same.  We put one foot in front of the other in faith day by day.