Built by the Bedingfeld family in 1482 as a statement of power, Oxburgh and the family have endured turbulent times. Through religious persecution, Civil War devastation, near dereliction and threatened demolition, Oxburgh’s story is one of survival.

The Bedingfeld, later Paston-Bedingfeld Baronetcy, of Oxburgh in the County of Norfolk, is a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created by Charles II of England in recompense for the family's losses in the Royalist cause during the Civil War and Interregnum years.[1] The Bedingfelds are said to descend from 'Ogerlis', a Norman, who, in 1100, held land at Bedingfield, Suffolk. His descendant, Edmund Bedingfeld, married Margaret (died 1446), daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Tuddenham (and sister and co-heir of her brother Sir Thomas Tuddenham, executed in 1462), bringing to her husband estates including the manor of Oxburgh, near Swaffham, Norfolk.

The Bedingfeld family at Oxburgh Hall were rising stars of the royal court in Tudor times, but when Sir Henry Bedingfeld refused to sign the Act of Uniformity in 1559 it meant the devout Catholic family were ostracised and persecuted - leading to the famous secret priest hole at Oxburgh Hall, which was constructed to help shelter Catholic clergy.

Oxburgh Hall is a moated country house in Oxborough, Norfolk, England. The hall was built for Sir Edmund Bedingfeld who obtained a licence to crenellate in 1482. The Bedingfelds gained the manor of Oxborough through marriage in the early 15th century, and the family has lived at the hall since its construction, although ownership passed to the National Trust in 1952. The house underwent extensive refurbishment in the mid 19th century under John Chessell Buckler and Augustus Pugin.

The Act of Uniformity 1558 (1 Eliz. 1. c. 2) was an act of the Parliament of England, passed in 1559,[d] to regularise prayer, divine worship and the administration of the sacraments in the Church of England. In so doing, it mandated worship according to the attached 1559 Book of Common Prayer. The act was part of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement in England instituted by Elizabeth I, who wanted to unify the church. Other acts concerned with this settlement were the Act of Supremacy 1558 (1 Eliz. 1. c. 1) and the Thirty-Nine Articles.