SECRET DOOR.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 29 June 1926, Page 5

SECRET DOOR.

COG-YEAR-OLD RELIC FOUND

ECHO, GIVES A CLUE

A secret door, Avhich has been hidden for centuries behind old oak panelling in the historic City of London church of All HalloAA'-s-by-the-ToAver, has just been discovered. The door and the door way date back to the middle of the fourteenth century. Both the masonry and the AA-oodAvork are Avell preserved. The architecture of the arched dcorAvay is, according to an authority, “beautiful in its simple design.” It is proposed to leaA’e the door uncoA-ered for anyone to see; A fine piece of mediaeval stone flooring Avas also discovered near the font. Further researches are to be made, the secret door Avas found by Avorkmen under the direction of the vicar, the Rev. P. B. Clayton, the padre of T-oc H. The doorway is in the eastern aisle of the church. The vicar, in searching through the old records of the church, came- across references to the existence of a -small turret containing a stone staircase, Avhich once led to the roof of the church. The turret disappeared in the course of the Avidening of Great ToAA r er Street in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Mr. Clayton and experts examined the panelling near the spot where it was assumed the staircase- leading to the turret stood. The panelling in the eastern aisle was tapped, and at one point near the main entrance there Was a faint echo. Workmen were instructed to remove the panelling, and the heavy iron hinges of an ancient doorway were revealed. Another strip of panelling was removed, and the complete doorway and door were disclosed. The door is studded with iron nails. The hinges are rusted, and some of the woodwork has rotted away. All Hallows-hy-the Tower is a church of great inteiest to Americans. William Penn was baptised there in 1644, and there is a memorial to him on the south wall. A former President of America, John Qnincey Adams, was married in the church in 1797. No City church has more beautiful ironwork than this. All Hallows, the the church nearest the block on Tower Hill, was the resting place of many English martyrs. The first church of All Hallows built on this site was 400 years -old when William the Conqueror landed in England. Charred woodwork forming part of a later church destroyed by fire in 1087 was found beneath the paving in 1923. The arches in the have date from about the year 1210.