Friends Meeting House
Farfield, Yorkshire
The date carved in the stone above the door of this simple meeting house shows that it was built in the same year as the Toleration Act of 1689.
The original priory was established in 1154 by a group of black robed Augustinian priests in a sheltered spot protected from the cruel winter weather by the surrounding hills.
Over the next four centuries, it thrived and grew, and the site became more magnificent. Then, very suddenly, in 1539 it was faced with obliteration as King Henry VIII undertook a campaign to destroy the monastic houses of England. Work to create the west tower was halted, lead was torn from the roofs, furnishings stripped out and valuables carried off to the king's treasury.
All but the 13th century nave now lies in ruins. It was left intact and still serves as an atmospheric parish church of incomparable beauty. Its Tudor roof is embellished with gilded bosses, including the unusual face of a Green Man, whose visage is framed by a leaf twisting from an eye and another from one side of the mouth. Most of the remaining church is in the Gothic style of architecture, but more work was done in the Victorian era.
The unfinished west tower, begun in 1520 and now roofed in, forms a magnificent entrance, behind which is hidden a fine Early English west front.
There are pleasing Early Gothic lancets on the south wall, with six Victorian stained glass windows by AWN Pugin, telling the life of Christ in 36 scenes.
Set deep in the west wall is a tiny stained glass window depicting St Cuthbert, after whom the church is named. The current east wall, rebuilt in 1877 to replace the old wall erected in1539 following the Dissolution, was decorated in 1890 by local artists. Pre Raphaelite paintings of flowers and symbols from the Bible, including the priory cross, lily, rose, passionflower, palm, lion and angel, are set in tall arches that rise behind the pre Reformation sealed stone altar.
Beyond the east wall lie ruins of the original church, an area of great beauty and serenity.
The high altar, topped by the imposing east window once resplendent with stained glass, was raised on a step that spanned the entire width of the building. Now this step is covered in grass, a mute witness to the majestic church that once stood on this site.