Cross Keys Inn Photo: courtesy of the author.
‘The pub with no beer’ in and out of Quaker ownership for 400 years. Alan Clowes tells the story
‘She was told she would only be released if she promised not to disrupt further church services. She refused.’
Christine and I have lived at The Cross Keys Temperance Inn for the last twenty-three years. Until 1732 the building was a farmhouse called High Haygarth – the home, in 1654, of Gervase and Dorothy Benson. Gervase was one of the leaders of the Westmorland Seekers. In 1652 he met George Fox at Borrats Farm in Sedbergh and was convinced by him. Like many of the Seekers they became the early Quakers and Gervase was one of the group known as ‘The Valiant Sixty’. Dorothy became a vociferous Quaker, and strongly objected to being forced to attend the established church. It is recorded that ‘she had conversation with the incumbent’ – no doubt she was heckling the priest. This was not acceptable and she was sent to prison. The two nearest jails were Appleby and Lancaster but in those days Sedbergh was a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and so it was to York prison that Dorothy was sent. She was seven-months pregnant.
Dorothy gave birth in prison to a baby boy, Emmanuel. She was told she would only be released if she promised not to disrupt further church services. She refused; in 1656 she died in York. Gervase asked for her body to be brought back to Sedbergh to be buried in the garden at High Haygarth.
In the 1700s a road was built and the incumbents of Low Haygarth, John and Agnes Howgill, could see the possibilities of making a bob or two from passing travellers. They extended the farm and The Cross Keys came into existence.
The garden on the south side of the building was enclosed by what is now our dining room. We sell no alcohol but offer a fine selection of other drinks like sarsaparilla, nettle and ginger, and more besides.
In 1998 we started an outreach project in South Africa. Chris and I spent three years setting up the Thandi Friends Project and since then we have spent five or six months a year working with the seriously disadvantaged community. In the beginning our aim was to create jobs for the older and uneducated members of the community. In the later years we built an early learning centre for the children, which included the training of teachers, cooks and gardeners. This centre has the finest Children’s Meeting you will ever find!
I am working on a paper detailing all our work and I have had the privilege of making two TV programmes for ITV. The first of these is now available on YouTube: ‘A journey into the beauty of Quaker Country’.
I would like to thank the many Quakers who have supported the Thandi Project, and also Chris and I at The Cross Keys during this difficult Covid period.
