By Dom Bede Camm OSB BA Oxon.
Forgotten Shrines
By Dom Bede Camm OSB BA Oxon.
Another house in which he used to say mass, and in which it is said he celebrated what was probably his last mass, is still standing in Gregson Lane in Brindle. One end of it now faces the entrance to Gregson Lane Mill. It is believed to have been erected about 1580, and is a fine example of the comfortable Yeoman's dwelling of that period, an interesting feature of the building being a small room in which the ironwork around the fireplace is hammered into a representation of the wheat and vine, emblematic of the bread and wine used in the Mass.
It is said that at the beginning of the eighteenth century this house was the residence of the Gregsons of Gregson Lane, one of whom placed his initials, 'G.G' with a cross and the date, 1700, on the lintel of the porch, thus giving later generations the erroneous impression that the building was erected in 1700. Near this house was dug up in 1899 a very ancient font, possibly of the ninth century, and in the garden of a cottage close by stands a beautiful old wayside cross. Local tradition asserts that at this same old house, the Venerable Edmund Arrowsmith, the Jesuit Martyr, said his last mass.
There are other interesting traditions of his presence in the neighbourhood. The writer possess a tiny statue, enclosed in an ivory niche, which Fr Arrowsmith is said to have dropped as he escaped from the Blue Anchor Inn at the Straits in Hoghton Lane.
There still exists a dark attic under the thatch, corresponding to the secret oratory of Fr Postgate at Egton. There is no light in this attic, and it is only reached by a ladder and a trap door. It is situated at the gable end of the house, to the right as you enter the porch and was probably a priest's hiding-place. A mullioned window in this end of the house lights the room that leads to this attic. Alas! the thatched roof has recently been replaced by hideous corrugated iron, a truly lamentable vulgarisation of this fine old dwelling. Our martyr's last Mass is said to have been celebrated in a bedroom at the east end of the house.....a cross is faintly seen in the gable end of this room near the top.
One very remarkable fact must be mentioned about this house. It is vouched for by several members of the Walsmsley family who have lived there, including the present occupants. It is said that a cross of light appears at intervals on the wall of the room in which the last Mass was said, and remains visible for some little time. My informants, including a Catholic doctor of the neighbourhood, tell me that there is no possible natural explanation of this phenomenon. It appears high on the wall. The previous occupant, whose name is Worden, has also frequently seen it.
In the year 1841, while some earlier occupants, also named Walmsley, lived in the house, a great storm of wind blew down part of a wall in the attic, and behind it was discovered a hiding-place in which was found a box containing a chalice and two vestments, and two altar-stones, one broken. The chalice appears to have been given to a Mr Thomas Parkinson, who was then studying for the priesthood, but I have been unable to trace it further. One of the chasubles and the altar stones were given by Mrs Walsmsley to Fr Ildephonsus Brown OSB of Ampleforth Abbey, who was pastor of the Brindle Mission from 1874 to 1884. He, then considering that these were the relics of a Jesuit martyr, very generously gave the chasuble to the museum of Stonyhurst College. This beautiful vestment is powdered with Gothic flowers of the conventional type and further adorned with a charming little figure of St John the Baptist. It is made of inferior silk, and is much worn, especially in front, where the mending is of the rudest character. The groundwork is now brown. It was once red with a blue cross on the back. The pillar in front has floral designs like the back. The neck piece is Y-shaped and can be drawn together by a hook and eye. the front is very much narrower than the back. The lining of coarse linen. The stole and maniple are lost. We should take the date to be late 15th Century.
A former occupant of the house writes to me : 'I think that there is still something hidden in the house, as in one room where there is a very thick wall, there is plainly marked in black , a cross with three lines below, and no matter how often the wall is whitewashed, the cross always reappears.'
This is in the pantry, which is approached through the kitchen at the west end of the house. This pantry is only about 7.5 feet by 6 feet and could not hold more than 6 people. The cross is on the north side, about 2 feet from the west wall. Undoubtedly Holy Mass was sometimes said in this small room. An altar-stone, broken in half and enclosed in a canvass bag, so as to be folded and put into the pocket, was found here. But it is not known what has become of it, though it may possibly be found at Ampleforth Abbey.
The Walmsley Family still cherish a very precious relic, a part of the other less perfect vestment which Fr Arrowsmith is said to have worn in their house. My informant writes 'It must have been purple, but it is very much faded. It was put on the bed when I was confined of my first child, with a promise if all went well (of which there were grave doubts) the child should either be a priest or nun. The girl who was then born always had the desire from her birth to be a nun.'