Over two thousand artefacts dating back to the 15th century have been uncovered under the floorboards of the attic at Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk.
The secret stash is thought to have been hidden by recusant Catholics practising the Catholic faith after it was outlawed by Elizabeth I in 1558.
The finds include a 15th-century gold leaf illuminated manuscript, thought to be part of Psalm 39 from the Latin Vulgate Bible, and a 1568 copy of The Kynges Psalmes by St John Fisher.
The discovery was first made by Matt Champion, an archaeologist who was working alone on a fingertip search of Oxburgh Hall’s attic rooms during lockdown.
Prior to the lockdown, the late 16th century manor was undergoing a £6 million restoration and repair programme after a dormer window collapsed in 2016 and major structural problems were consequently discovered in the roof.
The pandemic halted the restoration work and Matt Champion was asked to work alone in full PPE to complete his archaeological work on the attic rooms.
Earlier findings in the fingertip search initially only came up with modern finds, such as empty cigarette packets and a box of chocolates from the 1940s.
But as the search moved into the north-west end of the house, document fragments and sewing materials began to appear beneath the floor boards.
Then a series of large rats nests were discovered which, amidst the debris, contained hundreds of fragments of period clothing, musical scores, handwritten documents and printed pages.
At that point, the builders who had remained on site helped in the search and, amongst other findings, managed to recover the Psalm 39 illuminated manuscript and The Kynges Psalmes from the rubble.