St Peter
Addingham, Yorkshire
St Peter’s is an ancient and living church serving the village of Addingham.
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.
Farfield, Yorkshire
In fact, the plot for the building was given to the Quakers in 1669 by a sympathetic local landowner, with land for the adjoining burial ground given three years earlier at a time when Quakers were denied burial in parish churchyards.
It is a simple single cell building with stone walls and mullioned windows. The roof is stone slated and supported by a single king post truss; the floor is stone flagged. Apart from some loose benches, the only fitting is the oak minister's stand, where visiting ministers would speak to the meeting, of an unusual panelled design with turned balusters.
In the burial ground there is a row of five table tombs honouring the Myers family, who were the givers of the ground. Most Quaker headstones were of a uniform plain design, so these rare features provide evidence of a commemorative practice that the Quakers subsequently discouraged.
The meeting house has not been in use by the Society of Friends for 150 years and is a remarkable survivor of another age. It is left unlocked and can be visited at any reasonable time; a sign invites visitors to picnic in the grounds.
Addingham, Yorkshire
St Peter’s is an ancient and living church serving the village of Addingham.
Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire
The church of St Mary & St Cuthbert stands above a wide curve in the River Wharfe amid the ruins of Bolton Priory.
Ilkley, Yorkshire
All Saints stands proudly in the centre of town with a unique and important heritage story to tell that began nearly 1400 years ago.