Hi Melissa,

Thank you very much for your response and for that really useful information - I'll definitely try to find that episode and track down Ms Fielding. It sounds like she would make a fascinating interviewee! And if you're still in contact with the neighbour who found a cat, I'd be really interested in talking to them!

There is a lot of ambiguity over whether these animals were deliberately concealed or simply became trapped and died. In some cases the arrangement is so deliberate that it must have been the former, as in cases where they're placed under hearthstones and probably couldn't have found their own way there accidentally. Four chickens were found bricked up into a recess in a wall at Lauderdale House in Highgate - two of the chickens seem to have been strangled before they were put in, but the other two look to have been alive - there's evidence that they struggled against each other after they were walled in. As for whether these animals were concealed for "magical" protection or for the more secular purpose of scaring vermin - or both - the jury's still out on that one! I suggest some literature on the website if you're interested in reading more about it.