Living Adventurously
"When choices arise, do you take the way that offers the fullest opportunity for the use of your gifts in the service of God and the community? "
Quakers registered a meeting place in Kirkbymoorside in 1689 and in 1690 they obtained land for a burial ground and erected a small new meeting house on part of it. By the later eighteenth century this building was much out of repair and in 1789/90 it was largely rebuilt, apparently incorporating some of the earlier fabric. The roof was raised and the thatch was replaced with slate The interior was completely re-fitted with new sash windows, timber panelling, loft and elders' stand. At some time in the early nineteenth century a small brick porch was added to the west side. The porch also houses the stair to the internal gallery.
Attendance at meeting for worship was greatly reduced in the latter half of the 19th century and the administration of the meeting was taken over by Pickering or Malton, and for a period Kirkbymoorside meeting was only held on the first Sunday of the month. The meeting revived c1930
The meeting house is hidden from the street behind a row of cottages and reached through an opening with the date 1861 on the rear lintel. The meeting house is a modest building, rectangular on plan, with walls of coursed sandstone rubble and a hipped roof covered with Welsh slate. The main entrance is on the long west side with two separate doorways sheltered by a small red brick porch with a round-headed doorway and a lean-to roof. On the south side of the porch is a sundial dated 1810, which could be the date of the porch itself. Hard on each side of the porch, set high in the wall, are two rectangular window openings with 8/8 small-pane timber sashes. In the south end wall is a triple-sash window. At the north end is a modern stone-built lean-to addition containing the WCs.
The east rear wall, which forms the boundary with the adjoining property, also has two sash windows. The interior is divided into two unequal compartments by a panelled timber screen. The larger southern space is the main meeting room which has a dado of raised and fielded timber panelling, now painted, ramped up at the south end for two tiers of Elders' benches. At the north end of the room is a loft or gallery with an open timber balustrade; it now has a modern safety handrail and there is a modern glazed enclosure to the gallery stair (which rises from the front porch). The smaller space at the north end of the building was originally the Women's Meeting Room (at a meeting in 1789 it was resolved that 'the lesser end be made a pretty comfortable place for women Friends to meet in...'). It retains a timber panelled dado and hinged square panels opening into the main space under the gallery, but the upper part of the screen wall is now plain plastered and modern kitchen fittings have been inserted across the north wall.
Loose furnishings
There are six old timber open-back benches in the meeting house and a further four in
Ryedale Folk Museum. All of them probably date from 1789.
Attached burial ground
The burial ground behind the meeting house is uniform in size with the gardens of adjacent
houses and is managed as a garden. There is one surviving burial marker although many
burials were recorded, from 1690 and later
The meeting house in its wider setting
The meeting house is completely hidden from West End, behind a row of two-storey cottages
on the south side of the street. Entrance is by means of a passage below one of the cottages,
which is clearly later than the rest; the lintel of the south entrance to the passage has the date
1861. This cottage is occupied by the warden. It is not included on the statutory list and
appears to be partly eighteenth century and partly of 1861. The meeting house burial ground
is the same size as the gardens behind the cottages.
There is a detached burial ground at a remote spot at Lowna in Farndale, near Hutton le
Hole (National Grid Reference SE 6862891423) which was used for burials from 1675
Listed status
The building is properly listed at Grade II.
The meeting house is in central Kirkbymoorside. Access from York by public transport is
very limited and not direct. The nearest rail station is 15 miles away. There is on-street
parking nearby and the town car park is only 5 minutes walk. There is no secure storage for
bicycles.
Access
There is level access to all parts of the building (except the gallery).
Community Use
Friends use the building for approximately 3 hours per week. The meeting house is available
for hire for a theoretical total of 78 hours per week (6 x 13) and is used for approximately 5
hours per week. The meeting does have a lettings policy; no alcohol is permitted, nor the use
of candles. Quaker groups have free use. Users value the good location with secluded garden,
reasonable rent and the fact that children are welcome.
Do you have Quaker ancestors?
Follow the link to The Quaker Family History Society who encourage and assist anyone interested in tracing the history of Quaker families in the British Isles.