Book on local Quaker history
Anne Adams tells the story of Leominster Quakers
A Herefordshire Friend has written a book about the history of Quakers in Leominster.
Anne Adams, from Southern Marches Area Meeting, said the self-published book Quakers in Leominster, a Brief History was inspired by ‘living in Leominster and learning about the contributions of Quakers to the town in the past, and their sudden disappearance’. She told the Friend: ‘The book tells the story of Leominster Quakers whose members became convinced in the seventeenth century after visits from preachers from the north. Initially they suffered severely, as did all Quakers in England at the time.
However, in the nineteenth century they became prominent members of the community and contributed in many ways, especially through the orphanage and the printing press.
‘Following this time they declined in numbers and activities and discontinued their meetings in the mid-twentieth century, selling the Meeting house. Their legacy remains in a number of buildings and civil works. Orphans Press still exists today though not under Quaker management.’
