Chichester Friends lead Fox walking
More than forty-five guests took part in a public walking tour hosted by Chichester Friends
Chichester Friends hosted a public walking tour of local Quaker landmarks to celebrate Fox400.
The tours were hosted for more than forty-five guests who attended a special day at Chichester Meeting House last month.
Led by the Quaker author Michael Gilson, the tour included the site of the old East Gate jail, where many Quakers were incarcerated for their beliefs in the seventeenth century, and two Quaker schools, one for girls and another for boys, established in 1812. The tour also took in the home of Quaker William Smith, who, in the early twentieth century, pioneered new water and drainage systems for the city, and was mayor of Chichester. The guests also visited the former homes of Quaker James Hack, who founded the Chichester Bank in 1809, which eventually merged with another Quaker bank, Barclays, and Barton Hack, who left Chichester in 1837 and became one of the founders of Adelaide in Australia.
Chichester Friends Maria Hock and Cheryll Pitt also spoke at the Meeting house about George Fox, who first came to the city to establish a Quaker Meeting in 1655.
Michael Gilson is the author of Behind the Privet Hedge: Richard Sudell, the Suburban Garden and the Beautification of Britain which was published earlier this year. He is also the warden at Chichester Meeting House.
