Airton Meeting upgraded to Grade 2*
Friends celebrate upgrade of one of oldest meeting houses
Friends at Airton Meeting are celebrating the news that Historic England has upgraded their Meeting house to Grade 2* status to reflect it as a site of national importance.
Wilf Fenton, clerk of the Meeting, near Settle, told the Friend that they applied for its upgrade from Grade 2 as they think the building was built in 1610, fifty years before the beginning of Quakerism.
He said: ‘It is one of the oldest Meetings in the world and has a virtually unchanged interior. Quaker Meeting houses, as you know, are very simple, but this one is devoid of any decorations and very rustic, which is what gives it its beauty. Over the years it fell into neglect, and twelve or fourteen years ago, the roof was caving in and the floor collapsing. One local archeologist Friend – Laurel Phillipson – felt something had to be done and raised £245,000 for its restoration.’
For around two years, local Friends started to revive Meeting for Worship, gathering in the damp around a paraffin heater. Once the restoration work was completed, they were determined to never allow the building to fall into disrepair again.
‘We applied for it to be upgraded from Grade 2 to Grade 2* status,’ said Wilf Fenton, ‘as it makes it so much easier to raise further grants, and ensure that it will always be well looked after. The Meeting house is built on land that was owned by major John Lambert, the right-hand man of Oliver Cromwell, who was very tolerant of dissidents.
‘We found there are features which go back beyond the origins of Quakerism. There’s a very good likelihood that it was used by “the Seekers” – the dissenters who gathered around George Fox, so that could make Airton the oldest nonconformist place of worship anywhere.’
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