Ifield Parish Map
Friends Meeting House & Meeting House Cottage
The origins of the Grade 1 listed Friends Meeting House can be traced to
a meeting held in 1655 by George Fox, a founder of the Society of
Friends, and Alexander Parker at Richard Bonwicke’s house (Bonwyckes
Place in Ifield Wood), but it would be another 19 years before land
owned by Quaker Robert Robinson, who operated a blacksmiths out of the
adjacent house known as Clerksham (now known as Meeting house cottage,
built in 1475 and Grade II* listed), was bequethed to the Society. The
burial ground, where the graves of Sarah Robinson and the Cheal family
can be found, is thought to have been in use since 1659, which predates
the Society acquiring the land.
Text & photographs © Ian Mulcahy. Contact photos@iansapps.co.uk or visit my 'Use of my photographs' page for licensing queries (ground level photographs only). |