‘Harvington Hall: The House of Secrets’ Jo Durrant in conversation with Phil Downing

The Elizabethan manor with seven priest holes

Harvington Hall is a moated manor house in Worcestershire that has the look of quiet Elizabethan gentry life — but inside, it holds more hidden chambers than anywhere else in England. Seven priest holes, most built during the 1580s when sheltering a Catholic priest meant treason, are tucked behind fireplaces, under staircases and inside wall cavities. Several are the work of Nicholas Owen, a Jesuit lay brother and master craftsman who was eventually captured and died in the Tower of London in 1606.

Phil Downing, House Manager at Harvington Hall, knows its rooms and their histories intimately. Jo Durrant, historian and host of the Tudor History Travel Show, brings him to Stroud for a conversation about the recusant families who built and used the house, the engineering ingenuity of Owen's hides, and the dangerous religious world that made it all necessary.

Tickets via TicketSource.

Saturday 1 August 2026 · The Museum in the Park, Stratford Road, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL5 4AF · 2:00pm