History of The Religious Society of Friends in Lurgan

CHAPTER FOUR

BUILDING OF LURGAN MEETING HOUSE

ORIGINAL MEETING PLACES IN THE LURGAN AREA

Meetings for both worship and business were held in various locations throughout the district, mostly outside the town of Lurgan in private homes. In the neighbouring parish of Seagoe on the Portadown side, Roger and Ann Webb's house at Aghacommon was frequently used and also the home of Francis Robson in the townland of Tamnificarbet. Within the parish of Shankill Friends often met at Mark Wright's in Legahory and in earlier years at William Lynas's beside the burial ground at Moyraverty. Meetings were also held on occasions in Lurgan in the house of Robert Hoope, a linen merchant who had secured a tenement in the the town and who was a prominent citizen and influential Friend. References occur to an unidentified Lurgan meeting place but by the 1690s it was stated to be in poor repair and unsuitable for large gatherings.

MOYALLON MEETING

Settlement of the Moyallon district by the Christy family from Scotland provided a new concentration of Friends in that area. They originally joined in worship with Lurgan Friends but in 1692 permission was granted by Ulster Quarterly Meeting for a separate meeting to be formed.

"At a meeting at Ann Webb's the 16th of 2nd mo. 1692 some Friends now dwelling at Moyallon near Knockbridge who finding themselves so remote from all meetings have offered their desire of keeping a meeting amongst themselves, which being considered this meeting gives consent that the said Friends may have their request in respect to keep a meeting, provided they may not thereby be separated from Lurgan Meeting (being formerly of it) but from time to time be subject as required upon occasion."

Meetings were held in private homes from this date until 1736 when the present fine meeting-house was built. Moyallon Friends have always had a close association with Lurgan in that they form part of Lurgan Monthly Meeting for administrative purposes.

THE BUILDING OF LURGAN MEETING HOUSE

Despite losses in membership through emigration and the setting up of a separate meeting at Moyallon the Quaker population continued to grow and by the end of the last decade of the seventeenth century rooms or barns in private houses could no longer cater for the number of worshippers. Lurgan was becoming a more important focal point and Friends contribution to the economic well-being of the town was increasingly appreciated. No longer was it necessary to meet in remote areas for fear of persecution. The relative calm after the Williamite wars seemed an appropriate time to embark on this new enterprise. Robert Hoope took a prominent part in negotiating the granting of a plot of land for a permanent meeting house and burial ground on a site running eastwards from the main street to the boundary of the Brownlow estate. The decision to build this new meeting house is recorded as follows-:

"In the year 1695 it pleased God to open the hearts of the Friends of this meeting to build a meeting house fit for a province meeting or other large meeting - the usual one being too little and going to decay. So Friends upon several conferences ordered affairs so as the said house is built upon a tenement called Maddrin's tenement of the south end of the town of Lurgan upon copyhold lease from Esq. Brownlow, in the name of Robert Hoope, being for this meeting's use, and likewise two small dwelling houses in the front of the said tenement, the cost of which with the meeting house by subscription as hereafter mentioned, but what wanted to complete the said work was paid out of the collection stock which was but little."

In tenth Month 1697 when all the work had been completed and paid for Lurgan Meeting ordered that "Robert Hoope make a conveyance of the meeting house and tenement to John Robson, Timothy Kirk, John Webb, George Fox, Roger Webb, and John Walker in behalf and for the sole use, service and interest of this meeting according to law.

SUBSCRIBERS To LURGAN MEETING HOUSE

It is evident that Robert Hoope had a special interest in this project, as his contribution and that of his family amounted to a quarter of the total. He is designated in the list of subscribers as 'the chief promoter, overseer and contributor'.

The list of subscribers, which runs to some 120 persons, is an indication of the strength of the Quaker congregation at that time and the support the scheme received from rich and poor alike.

The entire list is set out below:

ARCHITECTURE OF THE MEETING HOUSE

A Lurgan Friend, Ezokiall Bullock, was entrusted with the building of the Meeting House. Specification of buildings in Lurgan was in accordance with the requirements of the landlord, Arthur Brownlow. It was of stone construction, 30 feet in length by 20 feet wide and 10 feet in height. The roof was probably covered in wooden shingles, as this was the practice in Lurgan buildings at that time and the walls rendered with lime on the outside and with mud in the interior. Windows were rectangular with small panes and the whole effect simple and functional. Friends meetings houses of that period all show a remarkable similarity of plan with a low ministers' gallery facing rows of benches for the congregation and a portion of the room capable of being pardoned off to accornodate separate business meetings. With this new purpose-built meeting place Lurgan became the undoubted centre of Quakerism in the area and the number of Friends in the town increased.

Improvements to the furnishings were authorised by a minute of 23rd of second month 1701:

'That Thomas Wainwright do order and oversee the roofing with shingles, hanging a door, putting seats and something like a table in the middle and plastering of the little square walls that stand beside the meeting house.'

A burial ground was laid out on the land beyond the meeting house, sloping down to the Brownlow estate and from this time on there was a marked reduction of the number of interments at Lynastown. Meetings for Worship were held on Sunday and Wednesday mornings and on occasions special gatherings were convened for the solemnisation of a marriage.

PROVINCE MEETINGS

Friends from all over the North of Ireland gathered every six weeks (at a later stage every quarter) to conduct the business affairs of the Society. As representatives came from as far away as Coleraine and Oldcastle (Co. Meath) the venues for these meetings alternated between Ballinderry (near Lisburn), Ballyhagan and Lurgan, all relatively central locations. Matters of concern were the approval of marriages, alleviation of suffering through distraint of goods for tithes, distribution of Friends' books and contact with the wider community of Friends in Ireland through the appointment of representatives and the allocation of funds to the National Meeting in Dublin.

The first Six Weeks Meeting in the new Meeting House was held on 19th of 4th month 1697. It is obvious that Lurgan was one of the most important meetings in Ulster from the fact that its contribution to the National Charge was one of the highest. In 1698 the total to be raised was £7.15.10 and the allocations from meeting areas were as follows:

In 1699 the Province Meeting arranged for the distribution of copies of Barclay's Apology, the classic treatise on Quaker doctrine. The numbers sent to individual meetings are set out below and can be taken as an indication of the relative size of membership in each case:

TOWN VERSUS COUNTRY

In matters of religion powerful conservative forces operate and it is clear that the change of meeting place from individual houses in country areas to a central location in Lurgan town was not universally approved. Many weddings continued to be conducted in the home of Ann Webb or John Robson as previously. In 1698, only one year after the new building came into use, Friends appealed to the Province Meeting to give a ruling on where they should meet on a regular basis. In a very wordy and cautious statement a compromise was proposed:

"Whereas Friends of Lurgan Meeting being desirous that their meeting should be oftener kept in the town than now it is by reason of most of Friends being in the town and now removed from the place in the country where it used to be held:- and there being some of their meeting that are not willing to have the meeting altered. Therefore the said Friends presenting the matter to this meeting Friends upon conference do think and by their opinions believing it will be greater service to Truth on many accounts that they hold their meeting always in the town on the week days and three First days and every fourth First day in the country at John Robson's and Ann Webb's as they shall happen in their turns. But if any inconveniency attend the said alteration that now does not appear to us, this -meeting consents that the said meeting of Lurgan do make their application to the Province Meeting to present what seems to them inconvenient that the same may be decided"

With the continued growth of Lurgan town and the establishment of linen markets and shops the urban location was the most convenient and became firmly accepted as the centre for Friends worship in the district. This site has been used by Friends as their place of worship and burial to the present day.