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Counting Quaker Meeting Houses
I enjoyed the article on the Quaker Meeting Houses in CA 422. I have searched for the Meeting Houses associated with 250 years of my Quaker ancestors, via train, bus, and foot, and found seven extant, which I photographed:
Malt Lane, Long Compton (Warks): Built c.1670, it is a plain three-bay house. My 9th great-grandfather was excommunicated for being involved in the building of it! It is now a private residence.
Beckspool Road, Frenchay (Glos): Built c.1673 and rebuilt in 1809 (below).
Hullavington (Wilts): Built c.1654 with a lease for 2,000 years of messuage and tenement, and a new built house with backside garden. The stone house on Watt’s Lane is now a private residence.
Slaughterford (Wilts): The c.17th-century stone Meeting House is ruinous.
Chestnut Hill, Nailsworth (Glos): Old stone building, which has been in continuous use for worship since the 1680s.
Quakers Friars, Bristol: The current grand building was rebuilt in 1747 and was a restaurant when I visited!
Bradford Meeting (Wilts): Built in 1698 in a court off Market Street in Bradford-on-Avon; this has a date stone of 1718.
By 1830 my Quaker ancestors, having married in a church, were written in the minute books as ‘a person out of unity with us, therefore this meeting disowns them’.
Jessie Cunnington, Brighton, Ontario, Canada
Crochet Archaeology
I made this postbox topper to mark the 100th birthday of the Marlipins Museum in Shoreham-by-Sea. I had never made one before, but I wanted to celebrate the centenary somehow – and what began as a small idea just grew and grew. The finished topper is the culmination of a lot of trial and error, as well as fact-finding and making test pieces. I never realised how big the top of a postbox was – much larger than expected! It is mostly crochet, but I knitted the roof tiles and the name boards on the building.
I wanted to put the museum building in a central position, and then decided that it needed more things around it. I tried to think of important aspects of Shoreham’s local history and came up with the pioneering film industry on Shoreham Beach (represented by an old-fashioned camera) and a traditional sailing ship, reflecting the shipbuilding industry that once operated beside the river. The biplane, of course, represents Shoreham’s historic airport, and the horses pulling an old railway carriage was inspired by a photograph showing carriages being taken across the river to the beach, where they were made into houses. All of these topics are covered in the museum.
Margaret Hamerton, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex
CA ONLINE: What you shared with us this month
Joe Flatman @joeflatman.bsky.social
It’s been an exceptionally hot + busy week. Hopefully, it’s now time to cool off + relax. What better way to do that than by sitting down with the latest @currentarchaeology.bsky.social, a bit of a #Roman special including my latest column on #Cirencester #Corinium
NTS-Archaeology @nts-archaology.bsky.social
Skye Bridge! Really good article in this edition [CA 424] of @currentarchaeology.bsky.social magazine about the remarkable site at High Pasture Cave on Skye! Including find of a bridge for a lyre…
Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk
During Britain’s early #Roman period, the frontier region of South Yorkshire was transformed with extensive, carefully planned field systems and farms. Was this the work of local communities or the incoming Romans? #ArchaeologyNews via @currentarchaeology.bsky.social
