Priest hole challenge will have 'mental effect'

Phil Downing will spend 48 hours hiding in one of Harvington Hall's priest holes

The manager of an Elizabethan manor house, spending 48 hours in one of its priest holes, says the exercise was going to be "quite a mental challenge".

Phil Downing will be spending the two days in the hiding space which was "about the same size as a coffin, just taller" in order to raise money for Harvington Hall in Worcestershire.

He has previously spent 24 and 36-hour spells in the hide "and I've got it on recording that I would never do it again," he added.

"It's going to have some kind of effect on me psychologically," he added.

Harvington Hall has a total of seven priest hides

The hiding places were built by families that carried on practising Catholicism in the Elizabethan period when it was outlawed.

Priests could hide in them to avoid "priest hunters", said Mr Downing.

The house has seven hides in total, some of which are "the most ingenious in the country".

One is situated behind a swinging beam, with another above a bread oven in the kitchen.

It was going to be "pitch black," in the hiding place, he added, "it's just me and my own thoughts for two days".

He explained he would cope by "putting myself in the mindset of a 16th Century priest.

"They could be in there for over a week, and they didn't know if they were going to starve to death or not," he said.

"I could imagine it would be much tougher for them than it will be for me."