92 SINAI PARK 
And later we come to the time when the depression in agricul- 
ture swept over the land, and the gentleman farmer gave place to 
the hard working farmer, and again the old house was divided up, 
and we see it as it is, in three distinct holdings—the dwelling house, 
the farmhouse, and the farm man’s cottage. 
I should not close my paper without saying a word upon the 
traditions of the place. First, the strong popular belief of the 
subterranean passage to Burton Abbey. Molyneux pointed out its 
impossibility. Why should any sane being want to travel that distance 
underground when there was no earthly reason for it, and certainly 
the Monks of old had no reason for so doing. I have been shewn 
lots of these subterranean passages and have usually found they 
were the remains of the ancient drainage of the place. 
The next, as Molyneux says : — 
“ One small room or recess leading from the principal staircase still bears 
the name of the confessional, a purpose to which there is no doubt it was 
originally applied.” 
There is no doubt in my mind that when this room was built, was 
long after the suppression of the Monastery and that this little room 
opened out into what was then the Great Gallery, and would most 
likely have been used for a gallery in which to place the musicians, 
when the place was used for dances. I fear friend Molyneux never 
went to his duties or he would have known the usual place for 
confessions would be in the private chapel, not a room over the stairs 
opening out into the Great Gallery. 
I hope that the few brief remarks, that I have been able to make 
upon this old house, will add more interest to this most remarkable 
old building, that has for 576 years at least watched over the 
development of Burton-on-Trent. 
ap” 
