Friends Meeting House
After 1850 fire.
The Friends ( Quakers) were active in Ashwell in the 18th century.Their meeting house was a timber framed building in Back Street. ( This part of Back Street is now called Silver Street.) It was set back from the road and was adjacent to their burial ground. Both are shown on the 1841 tithe map. It is believed that by 1850 the meeting house was no longer used.
The great fire of Ashwell in Feb 1850 destroyed most of the meeting house, and it was never rebuilt. The picture is of the meeting house after the fire. Its position was roughly at the top of the steps which lead from Silver Street to Angell’s Meadow. To the right is the walled area of the burial ground, the headstones rather overgrown.
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Are there any records of who is buried in the burying ground associated with the quaker meeting? Is anyone available to check for Phillips graves?
Access to the burial ground is difficult and it is very overgrown, however in 1907 H. G. Fordham noted 12 burials. 11 of them were members of the Thorne family and the other was Elizabeth Warboys.
I may have been down this path before, but since this article is by Norman Phillips, I am hoping Norman might know something about a Friend, Thomas Phillips, who sailed on one of Wm Penn’s ships for Philadelphia in 1682. Forgive me if I have already asked this.
Can anyone get me in touch with someone who might have records from Ashwell meeting in the 17th c.?
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