Saved for the nation: Quaker meeting houses where silence is cherished

Some of the oldest and most historically important Friends chapels in Britain now have protected status

For almost 350 years, Quakers have been opening a gate in a brick wall in Hertford, crossing a small, peaceful courtyard, and taking a seat on wooden benches in a simple, timber-panelled room to commune silently with God.

The Quaker Meeting House in the county town of Hertfordshire is the oldest in the world still in continuous use by the Religious Society of Friends, the proper name for Quakers. The town has grown around it, now with new-build developments housing young families pushed out of London and there’s a proposal for a chain hotel to be built opposite the meeting house.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2W24f30