CornwallCOMETOGOODFriendsMeetingHouse(michaelgarlickCC-BY-SA2.0)1 MichaelGarlick

Friends Meeting House

The tiny village is home to an historic Quaker meeting house, a cob and straw thatch building dating from 1710 and containing glass dating from 1640.

Come to Good, Cornwall

Oriau agor

The historic part of the building is open 24/7 for visitors, apart from 10.30am to 11.30am on Sundays which is our worship time. All are also welcome to join this if they wish.

Cyfeiriad

Come to Good
Cornwall
TR3 6QS

"The small old white meeting house is surrounded by a yet older small green burial ground where long grasses and flowers innumerable cover the gentle slopes. The soft mounds cluster around the walls, as if those who were laid there had wished their bodies might rest as near as possible to the house of peace where their spirits had rested while on earth." – Lucy Violet Hodgkin, Quaker writer (1869-1954).

After more than 300 years it seems like the Meeting House has barely changed. Come to Good is a tiny village, a few houses and a farm, which huddle away in a protective valley.

In the late 1600's Cornwall’s Quakers were facing repression and imprisonment. The Friends were hounded out of their meeting houses and many Cornish Quakers were persecuted and incarcerated.

George Fox, founder of the Quakers, came to Cornwall in 1656. He had been arrested several times for blasphemy, but he continued to speak out. After the Toleration Act of 1689 the local group group felt safe to start work on a simple cob and thatch house. 

Come to Good Friends Meeting House was completed in 1710 and is one of the oldest Quaker Meeting Houses in England.

The building has remained in use almost continuously since it was built just over 300 years ago. It finally got electricity and running water in 1967. Inside simple pews surround the central table and a gentle light floods in from the old diamond leaded windows, creating a wonderfully peaceful atmosphere.

In 2024, the building was added to Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register, due to the deterioration of the thatched roof. The thatch is forcing the timbers apart – posing a risk that it could collapse. It’s also letting in a significant amount of water, which is starting to rot the roof timbers and if not fixed soon, will damage the heritage inside the building. Similarly, the windows are also losing their structural integrity.

Thankfully, help is on hand to protect this much-loved Grade I Listed building. A £35,000 National Churches Trust Grant will help to pay for urgent repairs to thatched roof.

It really is a magical place and well worth a visit.

  • Captivating architecture

  • Enchanting atmosphere

  • Wildlife haven

  • Dog friendly

  • Non-accessible toilets in church

  • Parking within 250m

  • Ramp or level access available on request

  • Space to secure your bike

  • Walkers & cyclists welcome

  • Meeting for Worship 10.30am to 11.30am on Sundays.

  • Quaker (Religious Society of Friends)

  • Cornerstone Grant, £50,000, 2009

  • Our Cornerstone Grants fund urgent repairs and essential community facilities such as toilets and kitchens to help keep churches open.

  • Large Grant, £35,000, 2024

  • Our Large Grants fund urgent repairs and essential community facilities such as toilets and kitchens to help keep churches open.

Contact information

CornwallCOMETOGOODFriendsMeetingHouse(michaelgarlickCC-BY-SA2.0)1 MichaelGarlick

Make a donation

Donate to this church

Other nearby churches

Capel St Gofan

Bosherston, Pembrokeshire

Dyma le i fod yn un â’r hynafiaid a’r ysbrydion; man pererindota canoloesol mewn lleoliad dramatig yng nghesail y clogwyn uwchlaw Môr yr Iwerydd - ac mae’n rhaid dilyn rhes o risiau cerrig hynafol i’w gyrraedd.

Eglwys Santes Fair

Herbrandston, Pembrokeshire

Mae St Mair yn eglwys ganoloesol sydd â thŵr byr o’r bymthegfed ganrif yn y pen gorllewinol. Mae hi’n sefyll ym ‘mhentref diolchgar’ dwbl Herbrandston.

Jerusalem Independent Chapel

Burry Port, Carmarthenshire

Capel unigryw a sefydlwyd yn 1812 gyda nodweddion hyfryd Art Nouveau a hanes diddorol.