Clergy from the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, visited Harvington Hall on Monday 8 July.

They form part of a party of 40 from the diocese on a tour of Catholic England, led by Bishop Michael Burbidge. 

The group were at Birmingham Oratory in the morning then visited the Hall before returning to Oxford where they are staying with the Dominicans.

Deacon Paul O'Connor, Chair of Harvington Hall, invited the group to pray Evening Prayer in the site's Georgian Chapel before they departed. 

Harvington Hall is a house which holds many secrets and contains seven priest hides. Humphrey Pakington, who inherited the estate in 1578, was a staunch Catholic and thus subject to the harsh penal laws of the Elizabethan age.

Tickets are still available for this year's Harvington History Festival, which starts on Wednesday 24 July.

The annual Pilgrimage to Harvington Hall will also take place on Sunday 1 September. This year the principal celebrant will be The Right Reverend Paul Gunter OSB, Abbot of Douai Abbey.

Main photograph: Deacon Paul O'Connor (centre) with Bishop Michael Burbidge (second left) and clergy from the Diocese of Arlington.