This is bolted down, and as it stands under the great table passes unnoticed, and appears part of the ordinary floor.

He told me the method in which, by touching a spring, the bolts were withdrawn and the stone could be raised.

Thence a passage a quarter of a mile long leads to the little chapel standing in the hollow, and which, being hidden among the trees, would be unobserved by any party besieging the castle.

This of course was contrived in order that the garrison, or any messenger thereof, might make an exit in case of siege." "But if we could escape," Cnut asked, "why not enter by this way ?" "The stone is of immense weight and strength," Cuthbert replied, "and could not be loosed from below save with great labour and noise.

There are, moreover, several massive doors in the passage, all of which are secured by heavy bolts within.