Quakers in Alnwick

George Fox and the early Quakers passed through Northumberland many times in the 1650s and the years that followed. Quaker meetings were established several centuries ago in Allendale, Coanwood and Alnwick in Northumberland.

In the early days, Quakers were persecuted. In 1662, Ellen Hebron of Old Bewick was presented at the Court of the Archdeacon of Alnwick Abbey. In 1681, Edmund Craster was dragged before the court sessions on a charge of holding a Quaker meeting in his house in Alnwick.

In the early eighteenth century, and certainly by 1728, Mr John Doubleday, the then owner of Alnwick Abbey, let Quakers use a room in his house for meetings. This practice of meeting in homes continued over many years, but it seems that regular Quaker meetings ceased in Alnwick by the end of the 19th century until 1990.

In the early 1980s there were informal gatherings of Friends and Enquirers in North Northumberland in private houses.

Since 1997, Quakers from North Northumberland meet in Alnwick every Sunday throughout the year.

As part of their spiritual journey, Friends have found the ways and beliefs of Quakers 'speak to their condition'. They find in Quaker Meeting for Worship a direct connection with God and with truth. They find in Quaker social action or in the Quaker witness for peace a focus for their concerns about how we treat other human beings, how we look after our planet, and how we must remove causes of war.