Amidst the steep, tree lined hills hills and chalky paths around Grindleford in Derbyshire lay the ruins of Padley Hall. I have written previously how this ancient manor passed through the hands of various families from Norman lords to Tudor Elizabethan knights. jon rosling
But throughout the twists and turns that litter the history of Padley Hall, nothing quite matches the betrayal, deceit and darkness that followed after 1588.
The Babington Plot (a conspiracy by Catholics to kill Queen Elizabeth in 1586) led to widespread anti-Catholic feeling in Tudor England, such feeling whipped up even further with the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587 and a feared invasion by Catholic Spain in 1588. Prominent Catholics were arrested and imprisoned and ordained Catholic priests were tried for High Treason, the punishment being death by hanging, drawing and quartering.
The Fitzherbert family became owners of Padley Hall in 1534 when the only remaining heir to the previous owners married Sir Thomas Fitzherbert. The Fitzherberts, like many, were recusant Catholics, resisting the early Elizabethan religious settlements and refusing to recognise the Queen’s religious supremacy in Tudor England.
Sir Thomas moved his son John into Padley Hall and it soon became a safe haven not just for his family but also for Catholic priests who bravely continued their ministry in the land, seeking refuge where they could but knowing that capture would result in death. However, within the Fitzherbert family lay the seeds of desperation and betrayal for it would be John’s own son, Thomas (hereafter referred to as Thomas Jnr) who would turn against them in an effort to secure his own freedom.
Portrait of Richard Topcliffe (1531-1604)
Thomas Jnr had found himself under the eye of Richard Topcliffe, a notorious Elizabethan and well known both at the time and since. Topcliffe was landowner, Member of Parliament and also the government’s chief enforcer of the penal laws against the practice of Catholicism, from which much of notoriety is earned. His efforts to destroy Catholicism in Tudor England involved torture, sometimes at the Tower of London itself, or at Bridewell Prison. Occasionally, his own house at Westminster served as a torture chamber. jon rosling
Seeking to extricate himself from the vagaries of torturer Topcliffe, Thomas Jnr offered up a sum of £3 000 if Topcliffe would persecute to the death both his uncle, Sir Thomas (Snr), his father John and a cousin called William Bassett. He gave Topcliffe information of the whereabouts of the Catholic family and Topcliffe duly obliged, organising a raid by the Earl of Salisbury, George Talbot.
Talbot’s men arrived at Padley Hall on Tuesday 12th July 1588. Anti Catholic fervour was rampant – quite coincidentally English ships set sail from Plymouth the very same day in order to meet the Spanish Armada in the English Channel.
Tearing through the house in search of evidence, Talbot arrested John FitzHerbert, his family and servants and also discovered two Catholic priests who had sought refuge at the house overnight, Nicholas Garlick and Robert Ludlum. The presence of the two priests may not have been known prior by Talbot and his men but they were known to have been around and about in Derbyshire for a government list of recusants issued in March that year announces their presence. In fact, it’s surprising they were there at all – the FitzHerberts had buried their Catholic altar before Talbot arrived, suggesting incredible presence of mind or that they were somehow tipped off about the forthcoming raid.
Quite why they would have taken the priests in, knowing the imminent threat to them all, is curious. jon rosling
Initially imprisoned in Derby gaol, the priests were tried, found guilty and executed near to Derby Bridge on 24th July 1588 (I’ll be writing more on these Padley Martyrs soon). John Fitzherbert was imprisoned in the Tower of London along with his father, Sir Thomas Snr. Both would die in prison in 1590 and 1591 respectively but the case against their cousin, William Bassett, failed. As a result, Thomas Jnr – now the sole heir to Padley Hall – refused to pay Topcliffe, also arguing that his uncle and father had died of natural causes in prison rather than by Topcliffe’s direct hand or action.
Richard Topcliffe then sued Fitzherbert for the money and won his case, with the Queen’s backing, but by this point Fitzherbert was effectively bankrupt so Topcliffe saw nothing like the amount he was promised. Thomas Jnr. had signed over Padley Manor to Richard Topcliffe in part settlement of his debt but Topcliffe himself was heaved out of the manor by Earl Talbot (who, ironically, had led the raid on the manor in 1588 that discovered the two priests) once King James I was on the throne, and Anthony Fitzherbert (Thomas Jnr’s brother) was restored as the owner.
The Tudor manor was confiscated and passed through various hands before eventually returning to the family. The direct ownership died out in with William Fitzherbert of Swynnerton, a cousin, who inherited the property in 1649 but was forced to sell because of recusancy fines and heavy debts.
The former gatehouse to Padley Hall, now a Roman Catholic Chapel.
Source: John Rosling.
It seems that Padley Manor was never lived in again: a subsequent owner pulled the house down and sold the stone as building material. The Gatehouse remained intact and was used as a cow shelter and hay barn, until it was bought by the Diocese of Nottinghamshire in 1931 and converted into a Roman Catholic Chapel. The original altar stone, that had once been part of the family’s private chapel within the house, was found in the garden in 1934. jon rosling
Former site of the altar at Padley Hall.
Source Photo: John Rosling.
Fascinating thank you.