Monument record 3884/0/230 - Site of Friends Meeting house and attached burial ground

From 1751 Quakers met in a room above an archway in St John's Street. A burial ground was also established in the 18th century and a replacement meeting house was built on part of the burial ground in 1819

{1} Nothing is known about the earliest meeting places, but in 1751 Samuel Ellington and Benjamin Middleton were admitted as trustees of property in St John's Street to be used for Quaker worship. Quakers then met, 'in an upper room above an ancient archway in St John's Street'. In 1817 it was decided to build a new and larger meeting house on part of the burial ground which lay behind the old archway (3884/0/184). In 1937 the old archway on the street front and the adjacent cottages were demolished for road widening and a new house was built on part of the burial ground for a caretaker or warden.

There is a rectangular burial ground on the north side of the meeting house, between the building and the road. The ground is still open for the interment of ashes. The earliest burials appear to date from 1814, although the burial ground appears to have been established in the 18th century, and there are rows of plain head stones parallel to the path. The western boundary wall of the burial ground is a composite structure, part brick and part ironstone. Some elements are the end walls of adjoining properties. Most of the burial ground is laid to grass, with two mature pine trees.

<1> Burton, N., 2016, Friends Meeting House, Wellingborough: Historic Building Record, January 2016 (Report). SNN110525.

Record last edited

Nov 24 2016 10:04AM