Day 8- Lancaster Castle, Lancaster Meeting, and Swarthmore Hall (LONG)

This morning we had silent worship for fifteen minutes before breakfast. Cesanne spoke beautifully about finding joy, and how it would be hard to keep this joy when we're home. We must slow down and find joy in the small things. I had breakfast with a Bahi family. We spoke about the similarities between Quakers and Bahi, in their focus on peace. We also commented on the strong Bahi community in North and South Carolina.

After breakfast, I had a talk with Pam and Tom about the open-ended truth of Quakers today, and how Fox claimed to be of the Lord and knowing the everlasting truth. I wondered if he was talking about the truth he found in the individual, inward connection with God or more? 

We talked about the focus on community. You can have your moments with God on your own, but the gathering of Meeting is essential. Fox used that word in his speak (not just one speech, but his speak), "he saw a gathering of people." There is a mysticism that happens in the gathering, when all of us are able to focus on one idea.

Our first stop today was Lancaster Castle. Lancaster is owned by the Duke of Lancaster, which happens to be the Queen Mum. People of Lancashire (born and raised) are able to drink a toast to the Queen sitting down. They take great pride in this privilege.

Lancaster Castle was an unreal and grim experience. It seemed to silence most of us, and few photos were taken outside the castle. Our guide told us, "absolutely no photos in the castle, punishable by law." The entry into the castle was from the 13th century, with mirrors on the top and bottom of the entry, so they could see everything going in and out of the prison. There were two separate prisons; one was a debtors prison and the other for harder crimes. The women were kept separate. It is believed that Margaret Fell was imprisoned in the Keep of the castle, which is 850 years old. And, the Quakers were kept separate. They didn't want the Quakers to spread their ideas.

There was a huge building for debtors. We were told to think of it as a hostile, they were able to leave during the day to work, to pay off their debt. The castle was used both to keep people out and to keep people in. The witch trials took place in the court, including the Pendle Hill witches. The idea of witches was a way to keep women's ideas abreast. The court from 1808 is still in use as a civil court. The women's box was separate to remind women of no rights to vote or land. And, the expatriats took what they learned from the court and trial system in Lancaster with them to America.

  Col. Richard Kirby, neighbor of Margaret Fell, whispered to the judge during her trial. Margaret Fell was such a brave and gutsy woman, she said, "if you have anything to say, come down here to me."  Judge Charles Otway was sympathetic to females in his court. He released many of them saying, "the law says man." Otway also sympathized with Quakers, he let them leave to do their farming (during planting/harvest time) and he would intentionally forget to re-arrest them. This court was where George Fox was tried.  I asked why Fox wasn't hung, when there were so many executions at the time. Our guide said, "Fox was considered a nuisance and imprisoned instead. His crimes didn't meet the criteria for hanging. George Fox spoke to a gathering outside the castle, a mob ensued. Fox was thrown down a hill and two flights of stairs to the bottom of the road. John Lawson, a shop owner, rescued Fox. Lawson was the first known convinced Quaker.

The entire back wall of the courtroom  was filled with coat of arms.  We saw a torture room with all kinds of tools. And, a hidden door through the floor that would take the convicted directly to their cells from the courtroom. There was also a wooden brace in the courtroom where criminals were branded if they wouldn't speak or say what the judge requested of them. This brace was to hold the hand during branding. This is where the saying "branded a criminal" originated. Friends were kept separate in the tower so as not to spread their ideas.  Justice Bennet was the first to call us Quakers "because we bid them tremble at the word of the Lord."

We also visited the modern prison. There were no toliets in the modern prisons until the 1990s. Still grim conditions, but with two to a cell as opposed to four. The modern prison was a working prison until two years ago.

We met Jane and Jennie from the Lancaster Meeting. They were our guides to the Meeting House. Jennie gave us a copy of a poem by Mary Southworth, written during her time in prison. Mary was a poet who was arrested for being at a Meeting. Her poems were not published during her lifetime, it was considered vanity. She came from a well to do family, she was very well educated and wrote love letters in Latin. However, because of her poor eye sight she wouldn't have the life she was meant to.

Lancaster Meeting House

A Daffodil Ministry is referred to as flowers always on the center table. Some might say, "Oh, look at the beautiful flowers, look at the work of God." The center table was covered with "Faith and Practice" and different types of Bibles for whomever to use.

We had a few minutes of worship in the Meeting House.We had lunch and tea with the Lancaster Meeting. I love European butter, it is far better than ours. The color is more rich, it is the real deal. However, the English tend to put butter on their sandwiches. I do not like butter on sandwiches.

Jennie told us more about Margaret and George's time in prison. Margaret spent four years in prison because she refused to swear an oath.   "Quakers believe in speaking the truth at all times, and so the act of only swearing to truth in court, rather than in everyday life would imply double standards. As in James 5:12, they tried to "let your yea be yea and your nay be nay". At one point Fox was returned to his cell, from an appeal, for refusing to take off his hat. When Fell refused, the Judge sent her back to her cell, and told her she had an "everlasting tongue." Margaret wrote about the conditions of the prison, to the King and whomever she thought would listen. She also wrote about Fox and eventually he was released while she was still serving her four years.

Next, we took the train to Swarthmore Hall, Margaret Fell's residence where the first Quaker Meetings were held. The train ride was similar to the path the Quakers would have followed, through the marsh land with quicksand. The walk up to Margaret Fell's Swarthmore Hall was so peaceful. I picked blackberries along the way. We walked down to a kissing gate, across a small creek, and up a hill to the Hall. We sat in the front room; at a long rectangular table in the center of the room, where the first Quaker Meetings were held. The wrought iron chandelier above us was original to the time, but probably placed in a different part of the house. I believe sitting in this room was an amazing experience for all of us. And, many of the pilgrims commented on Margaret's home being one of their favorite stops on the trip.

The senior Fell, Judge Fell's father built a grand house next to Swarthmore Hall (that no longer stands). Fell felt he should build a house to show his status. We have no images of this house. When Judge Fell became a successful lawyer, he married Margaret. Their marriage was not a traditional marriage for the time. They had conversations on equal terms. She ran the business of the house, when he was often away. The Fell's had eight children. The Judge's estate and interests continues to build. George Fox came to the Hall because of Fell's reputation with traveling preachers. Margaret and one daughter became convinced. Fox went to St. Augustine's Church with Margaret, and corrected the preacher. She took Fox to her Hall, and others followed, where he spoke. Quakerism spread quickly. Judge Fell never became a Quaker, it would have been politically difficult for him. He did listen to the Meetings from his study.  Margaret wrote letters to everyone- Oliver Cromwell, the Valiant Sixty...  Judge Fell died in 1658. Later, Margaret married George Fox. Margaret took over the interests of the house while continuing to be proactive in society. During the 1660s she was arrested. The Hall continued to be run by seven daughters, especially the youngest daughter Rachel and her husband. Margaret Fell died in 1702. The Hall was bankrupt by 1750, and sold to a slave trader. The house continued to pass through farmers hands for 150 years.

There is a smaller version of the 17th century Hampton Court garden out back. And, folklore has it that there were chickens in the Judge's study when the Quakers arrived. The two carved griffins in the dining room were made by Margaret's daughter, Emma. This was not common at the time.  Quakers took the Hall back in the 1950s and many of the fixtures were found and returned. George Fox and Margaret Fell's chairs were saved. The 17th c. refectory table that we all sat at was smooth on one side for dinner, and rough on the other side for work. The servants sat with the Fell's for dinner. The griddle cake storage cabinet was original, and partially carved by their daughter. The Hall has George Fox's journal, printing from the 1690s. The journal has existed since the 1650s. The vision at the gathering on Pendle Hill was taken out of the 1690s journal. Visions of the 1650s had become old of style and considered excessive by the 1690s. Our guide Jenny referred to it as "mushroomy."

The entry way was changed by daughter Emma Clark Abraham. She was very resourceful. When she noticed the fireplace upstairs needed repair, She took the bedposts of Judge and Margaret to hold up the fireplace. There are Flemish carvings above the bedroom fireplace, except for two pieces carved by Emma. The Flemish carvings reminded me of the Flemish windows used at the Newbold-White house on the coast of NC. I visited this house with my children. http://perquimansrestoration.org

The sleeping style at the time was to have many pillows behind your back, almost sleeping halfway sitting up. The quilt would have been a solid sheet of fabric with embroidery. The posts of Fox's bed were made of the heaviest wood, lignum vitae. This was his traveling bed which didn't make any sense to us. Fox's bed was low to the ground. He was in his fifties at the time, and suffered from arthritis. We saw his travel trunk. And, there was a large tapestry in Fox's bedroom that covered an entire wall. The tapestry was of the story of Solomon.

Cezanne also mentioned a book I should read called, "Tinkers." Tinkers (2009) is the first novel by American author Paul Harding. The novel tells the stories of George Washington Crosby, an elderly clock repairman, and of his father, Howard. On his deathbed, George remembers his father, who was a tinker selling household goods from a donkey-drawn cart and who struggled with epilepsy.

Tinkers won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and other awards and honors.The Pulitzer board called the novel "a powerful celebration of life in which a New England father and son, through suffering and joy, transcend their imprisoning lives and offer new ways of perceiving the world and mortality."

Lancaster Castle, tower where George Fox was imprisoned.

The Keep where Margaret Fell was imprisoned.

A cell in the modern women's prison. This was a working prison until two years ago, an ancient part of the castle modernized. 

Lancaster Meeting House

The round center table in the Meeting House; always with flowers  and a collections of books including Quaker Faith and Practice and New Study Bible.

The Quakers had to travel along the marsh land, including quicksand to Swarthmore Hall.

View from Swarthmore Hall. This is not a lighthouse, but a folly. "In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose." It was erected in honor of someone, but no one knows you, no marking remains.

Gorgeous windows in the dining room, where the Quaker Meeting we held.

Flemish carvings on the griddle cake cabinet.

George Fox's travel bed.

Story of Solomon tapestry 

First printed copy of George Fox's journal, from 1690s-1700s.

Shepard's chair for someone not sitting next to the fire.

"It looks as if there is a lift going up the middle of the stairwell, doesn't it? But, it isn't. Some people look at that and think it is a pulley system for taking dinner upstairs. No such luck! It's called a four post newel- and it's very special- there are only three or four in existence. It's real purpose is to support the roof."

View from train station, on way to Swathmore Hall.

blackberry bushes along the path to Swarthmore Hall

George Fox's chair. There was an identical chair for Margaret on the other side of the fireplace. 

The saying "sleep tight" come from this, the underside of the bed was a series of ropes.

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costumes appropriate to the time, late 1600s.

A living quilt

I picked up rubbish on the way to the burial ground. We had a few minutes of  silent worship there. After, I looked down at my hand and saw this. I showed it to Mary, next to me. We couldn't stop laughing. Mary continued to show everyone. We all laughed.

 View from Margaret Fell's grave (unmarked in the old Quaker style)