'It is such a significant building that Addoldai Cymru, (Welsh Religious Buildings Trust) was keen to take it on as the first Quaker property in its portfolio.'
The gift of time: Colin Brown on the future of The Pales
‘A resolution has arrived!’
The Pales Meeting House has not been home to a Local Meeting for decades, but it still houses occasional worship and other activities, making it the oldest continuously-used Meeting house in Wales. After many years of wrestling with what to do with this precious old building, a resolution has arrived!
The Pales is set in stunningly-beautiful rural surroundings. It is five miles east of Llandrindod Wells, and has links with early Radnorshire Quakers, many of whom emigrated to the USA. Yardley Warner, much involved with helping people who had been enslaved in the southern states, came to The Pales to live and teach.
It is such a significant building that Addoldai Cymru, (Welsh Religious Buildings Trust) was keen to take it on as the first Quaker property in its portfolio. It has now been given to that organisation. Addoldai Cymru is a charity, set up with the support of the Welsh Government, to preserve historic places of worship in Wales. It is keen to preserve and promote the heritage value of The Pales, but also to see it used by the local community, by visitors, including pilgrims, and especially by Quakers. We have maintained legal rights to the burial ground, but will also still be able to use the Meeting house, by arrangement, for occasional worship, weddings and other get-togethers.
The Pales has a schoolroom and adjoining cottage, built for Yardley Warner. The Williams family lived in this cottage for twenty-one years until 2014, creating a small campsite, with good facilities that are still in excellent condition. They also lovingly developed a flower and vegetable garden, and created a beautiful wood, a pond, and a Peace Pole. Quaker youth groups and others would come to camp, or perhaps sleep in the Meeting house, and engaged in all kinds of spiritual and artistic activities.
By 2016, however, it was clear that the cottage had become uninhabitable without major refurbishment, and there were annual expenses of several thousand pounds, borne by the Area Meeting. What was to be done? With so many Friends having very fond memories of The Pales, just selling it off as a private dwelling could not be contemplated. With a burst of optimism, a committee was formed to investigate how to give the building a new lease of life. Architects were engaged, and by 2020 impressive plans had been drawn up. But it became apparent that it would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to fully realise the project. The Pales was not big enough, or in the right place, to give the returns needed to make that viable.
A Threshing Meeting confirmed that a sell-off was still not a desired outcome. A new option, involving Addoldai Cymru, became the preferred one. Throughout our numerous meetings with Addoldai Cymru it has always felt like we are in sympathy with each other’s aims. Both parties are full of hope and confidence for the future. Three hundred and fifty years after the land was originally ‘gifted for the use of Quakers’, Friends will still meet there to worship, marry, and bury our dead.
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