June Sampson: Friends in need of new £2m centre

Quakers are the oldest non-conformist religious group in Kingston, and the persecution they endured in their early years would make a powerful drama documentary today.

George Fox, founder of the movement, came to Kingston many times, and by the 1650s a local miller named John Fielder was risking savage punishment by holding Quaker meetings at his house, the Hand in Hand. (This building, described as an inn and granary, stood on what is now the Garden of Remembrance in Church Street).

Freedom of worship was forbidden for much of the 17th century, and people were bound by law to worship at the parish church, or be fined for non-attendance. Further Acts were passed in 1664 and 1670 making it illegal to hold religious meetings anywhere but in the parish church.

This meant Kingston's Quakers had to meet in secret and Friends, as they styled themselves, were repeatedly jailed and fined.

Something of their suffering is revealed in their surviving documents. This, for example, written in 1670: "And when Friends have been kept out of their (Kingston) meeting room, Captain Edward Brett's Soldiers have come and brought Sticks and struck Friends in a cruel manner and puncht them with their carbines on the Brest and Backs. Christopher White they puncht on the Brest so that the bloud burst out of his Nose; and severall others they puncht and beat so that were sore a great while afterand it has been the Soldiers practice (Meeting after Meeting as constantly as Friends mett) to come and beat and punch Friends in a Cruel and Barbarous manner"

Troops and corporation officials also raided Quaker homes and made "havock and spoil" of their goods. One time they targeted the home of Thomas Tanner. While Mrs Tanner and her seven children watched in terror, corporation officers stripped the place, "and left them so bare that they were faine to lie upon Matts."

Other Quakers were even more humiliated. The town's bailiffs broke up one meeting themselves, threw two of the Friends in jail "and put four Friends in ye Cage where use to put Beggars when they take them up in order to whipp them."

But, strengthened by the courage of their convictions, the Quakers flourished, and in the 1670s built a meeting house on the corner of Union Street and Eden Street. Here they met for more than a century before building on their present site in Eden Street in 1773.

The new building cost £533 8s 9d and was funded by a trust set up more than a century earlier. Its core was a field opposite the Lovekyn Chapel in London Road, bought by the Friends in the 1660s. One half became a Friends' burial ground an urgent need at a time when Quakers were denied interment in churchyards while the other half was leased out as a market garden, and the income used for Quaker projects in and around Kingston.

Careful stewardship made the field an ever more valuable asset over the years. The burial section was sold in 1920 with restrictions on its use, such as a ban on digging more than three feet below ground. The other portion was developed with income-producing warehousing and other commercial buildings.

In the 1990s the Friends decided to leave Eden Street and build a new meeting house on their London Road land. Designs were drawn up, and it was agreed that a developer would provide the new premises in exchange for the Eden Street site.

But before work could begin, the Friends were approached by Kingston Grammar School, which desperately needed space to expand.

"They told us that we had pipped them to the post in the 17th century, when they wanted to buy the field, but didn't have the money, so could they buy it from us now," explained a Kingston Quaker spokesman. "We came to a good agreement, whereby they bought the land, and paid us a sum that will enable us to rebuild our present meeting house to a very high standard. So everyone has benefited thanks to far-sighted Quakers in the 17th century."

Tonight Kingston Town Neighbourhood Committee will decide whether to approve the new Quaker Centre.

If planning permission is granted the Royal borough will, say the Friends, gain "a place of silent worship, a haven of peace within a busy shopping centre and a vibrant meeting place for the whole community."

The new building, designed by architect John Langley of Tectus, will have a large meeting room for worship plus three seminar and activity rooms, a library, large reception area, high grade kitchen, toilet and shower facilities, and two offices. The latter will offer free, or very low rent, temporary accommodation to approved start-up charities.

Gillian Ashmore, Kingston Quakers' assistant clerk, said the application was for a well-designed, modern building in which Quakers could worship and the wider community enjoy the facilities.

She pointed out that the largest seminar room would be suitable for children's use and for physical activities, such as exercise classes, dancing, singing and yoga.

And all the rooms would be available for hire by any organisation, group or individual unless their purposes were contrary to Quaker values "We intend to operate with varying rates of hire so that charities, voluntary bodies, private clubs and public sector organisations can afford to use the rooms," she said. "We hope Kingston Council will view the project positively as a welcome and exciting enhancement to Eden Street and to Kingston as a whole.

"Not just another shop or club or bank, but a significant addition to community space."

Friends hope to demolish the present building a few months hence and to occupy its new meeting house by Autumn 2006. Kingston Grammar School has offered the Lovekyn Chapel for Sunday worship during the construction period.

• See next week's Surrey Comet for an update.