Relics of recusant life at Oxburgh Hall

Restoration work at Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk has revealed a fascinating yield of papers and cloth, and all manner of things hidden or mislaid below attic floorboards from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. Whilst such funds are made during repairs of historic buildings what makes this collection of interest is its quantity and that it dates from the recusant era when the Bedingfield family, builders and owners of the Hall, were penalised for their fidelity to Catholicism. The finds include fragments of medieval prayer books and a copy of one of the works of St John Fisher.

The National Trust, who now own Oxburgh, have been publicising these discoveries and their are reports today from the MailOnline at Historic family's hidden Catholic papers found in National Trust home and from the Guardian at Restoration of Norfolk hall uncovers Tudor and Elizabethan finds