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Quakers
in The Dengie Hundred Quakers have been in existence since
the early 1600's when a preacher called George Fox began to preach that people could communicate with God without the need of a Minister to act as intermediary. Through the years Quakers were persecuted but persisted in their faith. At first meetings took place in peoples houses or
outbuildings. As Quakers did not believe in the Church of
England many refused to pay local tithes which
went to the Church and as such were often
imprisoned. There is an unattributed story about a Quaker
sent a bill to a Clergymen for work that he had
not carried out. When the Clergyman asked him
why he has been billed for this work the Quaker
replied If you wont pay for work that you didn't
ask for and have not benefitted from why should
I pay tithes as they are exactly the same. In about 1660 John Pollard of Steeple was
both imprisoned in Colchester Castle and on his
refusal to pay a £50 fine had his cattle worth
over £300 confiscated. In 1662 John Pollard was back in prison this
time with his brother Joseph Pollard also of
Steeple for refusing to pay Church tithes. John Davidge of Burnham was imprisoned for 5
weeks. He obviously continued to follow his
religion as he is recorded to have been sent to
the Chelmsford house of correction at a later
date. Stephen Hubbersly was arrested at a
meeting and taken before a magistrate who
released him as the Magistrate found that he had
committed no crime. He was arrested again and
this time served 5 weeks also in Colchester
Castle. Thomas Lee of Steeple was fined 20 shillings
for working on a Sunday. By 1676 monthly meetings began to be
organised and the local group of Quakers who met
at Steeple joined with other local groups to
hold a regular monthly meeting at Witham.
Although Quakers believe that there is no need
for churches because God can be found and
worshiped anywhere they began to build permanent
churches that would allow them to join together although they called these buildings,
Friends Meetings Houses rather than churches From this point Quakers began to be organised
with some rules, the ability to hold
ceremonies such as marriages and most
importantly they began to keep records. A decision was taken at the Witham monthly
meeting to open a burial ground and negotiations
began to purchase a plot of land at Steeple with
the first burial taking place in 1695. The isolated nature of the burial ground from
the main centres at Witham and Maldon meant that
during the 1700's the burial ground at Steeple
was no longer used and a new burial ground was
purchased at Witham. Although no headstones and little evidence of its use is visible today, Essex Records Office has records of the burials which are stored with the records of the Parish Church at Steeple. By 1701 the movement grew to the extent that
a monthly meeting was now held at Maldon as well
at Witham and in 1709 the Quakers opened their
own meeting house at High Street, Maldon. Essex Quarter Sessions in 1706 granted
approval for the use of private houses as Quaker
meeting houses to Henry Heielam at Southminster,
Anne Wite in Mundon and Thomas Woodward in
Steeple so Quakerism seemed to exist throughout
the Dengie Hundred. The current Meeting House in Maldon was opened
in 1821 and has been in continuous use ever
since. This website has a list of
Quaker deaths from
1844 to 1886 This website has the story of the
burial ground
at Steeple
www.essex-family-history.co.uk
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