Farfield Friends’ Meeting House

Farfield Friends’ Meeting House near Addingham is a delightful little place. Rather helpfully, it displays the year 1689 above its doorway: that year’s Act of Toleration allowed those who dissented from the worship of the Church of England to erect their own chapels and meeting houses without fear of molestation. Inside, all is plain and simple, the purest expression of protestant worship. The graveyard predates the building by thirteen years, which accounts for Sarah Myers’ grave having the year 1687 upon it.

Although modern Quakerism is found attractive by educated, spiritually-minded members of the university educated classes, few others attend its meetings. The Bible has been sidelined and evangelical truth hushed. Nevertheless, their early buildings still exude a sense of holy zeal and pious simplicity which many of our sounder, contemporary churches would do well to heed.

For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward. 2 Corinthians 1:12

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