Eye - 4 August 2023
From Friendly variety to Will this have you in stitches?
Friendly variety
How Quakerism is presented to the world can reflect the complexities we find within our community surprisingly succinctly, as David Fish, of Rugby Meeting, found.
He told Eye: ‘I have been following Quaker thinkers like David Harris (“more time to nurture spirituality”) and, more recently, Stephen Petter and many others asking about the words we use from within our spirituality. Many Quakers start from “Quakers have no creed”.’
So he looked at Wikipedia to see what seeking surfers might be presented with. When he found, at the bottom, ‘Theology – Variable; depends on meeting’… [he] ‘smiled broadly’.
Penning a piece
If something moves or inspires you, it is likely to resonate with other Friends too. Have you considered writing an article to share your story with our community?
Ferocious oratory
An imposing stone that has stood in a churchyard for 200 years caught the eye of Stevie Krayer, of Abergavenny/Cyfarfod Crynwyr Y Fenni Meeting, recently.
She discovered the stone was erected in St Catwg’s churchyard in Cadoxton, near Neath, in 1823 ‘to commemorate the murder of a young woman who was in service to a local farmer’.
Stevie writes: ‘She was pregnant at the time, and had pointed the finger at her employer’s son. No one was ever found guilty of the murder, but the local community was sure it was the father of her unborn child.
‘The community apparently raised the money for the stone, but the inscription was written by a local Quaker called Elijah Waring, in startlingly ferocious and vengeful language. The stone was not aligned with other gravestones, but set up accusingly to face the house of the supposed murderer.’
And ferocious it is! The stone was intended to confront the suspected murderer, but also as a warning to others with violent inclinations.
The latter half of the inscription reads: ‘Although the savage murderer escaped for a season the detection of man, yet God hath set his mark upon him either for time or eternity and the cry of blood will assuredly pursue him to certain and terrible but righteous judgement.’
The details about the murder of twenty-six-year-old Margaret Williams in 1822 and the various theories that surrounded the case can be found on the Neath Antiquarian Society website, along with a bit of clarification about Elijah.
An article by Martyn Griffiths states: ‘The author of the verse on the stone was Elijah Waring (1788-1857). He was originally a Quaker and had moved to Neath in about 1814 from Alton in Hampshire.
‘Waring became a Wesleyan and preached at the local chapels. He was either loved or hated and one adversary commented that he was “notorious on all occasions for a desire of hearing his own oratory”.’
Will this have you in stitches?
Apologies Friends, that title needs a dad-joke sound effect! Here is a dainty offering, a gentle challenge, to seek out the stitches that were used to create the Quaker Tapestry – including one that was created especially for the project by founder Anne Wynn-Wilson.
Stem stitch
Whip stitch
Split stitch
Quaker stitch
Chain stitch
Bayeux point
Peking knot
You can find out more by visiting www.quaker-tapestry.co.uk/about/stitches.
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