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Cheltenham Quaker Meeting |
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The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) have met regularly for worship in Cheltenham since about 1660. Indeed, Quaker records offer evidence of followers here as early as 1658. Possibly the message of George Fox had come to them via Quaker meetings held in Bristol in 1654 when, according to George Fox’s Journal, Joseph Camm and John Audland became “First Publishers of the Truth” in Gloucestershire. Shortly afterwards Fox himself visited Cirencester and Bristol.
The first Gloucestershire Quarterly Meeting Book of 1670 indicates that its five Monthly Meetings comprised 23 Preparative Meetings of which Cheltenham was one, then being in the Stoke Orchard Monthly Meeting. In 1678 Fox addressed “a large gathering” in Cheltenham.
Before the Toleration Act of 1689 it was illegal for non-conformists to hold religious meetings of more than four people and Quakers were obliged to gather in the street or secretly in barns or in each other’s houses. In 1684 many cases are recorded of Cheltenham Friends being taken to court for attending Quaker services. Some were fined or imprisoned and others suffered distraint of their goods. One Cheltenham Quaker, Elizabeth Sandford, for allowing her property to be used for Meeting for Worship, went to prison and was punished “in the flesh, oft times severely”.
After 1689 Elizabeth Sandford was free to make over some of her
land to trustees for the use of Quakers. Dated October 27th 1701, the
surrender was made “to the use of William Mason, Jn Pumfry and Jn
Drewett of a piece of garden ground in Cheltenham”. These trustees
are admitted as tenants but with the usual oath respited “because
they are Quakers”. The document recites that “the premises are so
surrendered to the only intent and purpose that a Quaker
Meeting House
may therein be founded and with all convenient speed be erected
for the assembly of Quakers for celebration of divine worship for all
times hereafter to continue”. This Meeting House stood in
Manchester Place
in the vicinity of the old Shaftesbury Hall site (now Chelsea Square)
and was licensed at Michaelmas Quarter Sessions in 1703.
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In 1760,
Sara Fox, a visiting Quaker from Bristol described the Meeting House,
cottage and garden here, similar in layout to Nailsworth’s
17th Century Meeting House.
In the 18th century Quakers were closely involved with the early
development of Cheltenham as a fashionable spa. In 1696 Margaret
Surman of nearby Tredington married William Mason, hosier of
Cheltenham. Both were Quakers. On their property at Bayshill, Mason
had discovered a chalybeate spring. Their daughter Elizabeth had
married Captain Henry Skillicorne, a retired naval captain and
adventurer who, inheriting his father-in-law’s estate, exploited the
healing properties of the spring water and established Cheltenham’s
first Spa and Pump Room. The Captain is commemorated at some length
on a tablet in St Mary’s Parish Church while his wife is remembered
somewhat more humbly: “Mrs Elizabeth Skillicorne a Quaker, was
buried in the Quakers Grave Yard, upon the 14th of April 1779. A Virtuous
Woman, A good Wife & tender Mother.”.
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The site of the burial ground in
Grove Street is identified by an iron gate set into a wall
and dated 1700.
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Grove Street is near the former St James Railway Station
site, now occupied by the Waitrose supermarket. An old brass plate
identifying (at least some of) the
interments there, including “E Skillecorn” is displayed in the
Cheltenham Meeting House.
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Meanwhile the original early Meeting House had from time to time
needed rescuing from serious disrepair until in 1834, further repair
being deemed impractical, it was decided to sell the building and
erect more commodious premises nearby. These were completed in 1836
and their facade on Clarence Street (formerly Manchester Walk)
still survives.
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But in its turn this large stone building eventually proved beyond
the Meeting’s capacity to maintain. North House was purchased in
1902. The house itself was re-sold but its grounds were retained and
on them was built the
Portland Street Meeting House
which was to serve the Society well for the next 80
years.
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In 1983 work on the new Cheltenham northern relief road commenced, necessitating the demolition of the Edwardian building and causing Cheltenham Quakers to seek yet another new home. For just over a year the Meeting was accommodated temporarily in part of Shaftesbury Hall, the very location of its former 18th-century Meeting House. As the County Council had compulsorily purchased the Portland Street building, it was responsible for the cost of replacement when a new site in Warwick Place became available. The present modern building opened in February 1985. Since then Cheltenham Quaker Meeting has flourished and is very appreciative of its excellent facilities - as also are the many local organisations who hire its rooms during the week.
Referring to the building of 1836 an observer commented: “The erection of a Meeting House demonstrates that the present Society is alive to the maintenance of those principles of non-conformity and simple unadorned Christianity which their ancestors so ardently and disinterestedly laboured to diffuse”. This remains true today.
Meetings for Worship are held at the Meeting House every Sunday at 10:30am. Visitors are always very welcome to join in our quiet worship.
Pictures of the present Meeting House
Cheltenham Quaker Meeting home page
Gloucestershire Area Quaker Meeting
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Britain Yearly Meeting
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| This page last updated 2008-08-24. We try to make these pages as accessible as possible, by adhering to HTML 4 standards. |
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