Records of Knaresborough Preparative Meeting of the Society of Friends

Minutes of Preparative Meeting, 1719-1760, 1778-1790, 1798-[1826] (3 vols.) [B 2.1-2.2; C 4.3]; Minutes of Women's Preparative Meeting, 1701-1789, [1792]-[1826] (3 vols.) [B 3; B 5.2-5.3]. Note that after 1792 the minutes are for Netherdale and Knaresborough PM, later known as Darley and Knaresborough.

In the mid-1650s, several Friends were active in Knaresborough, and suffered imprisonment for preaching at the parish church; they included John Snawdon, John Hogg, Thomas Warriner and John Geldart. Knaresborough Meeting was first recorded in 1665 as part of Skipton Monthly Meeting, and again in 1669, as part of the newly formed Knaresborough Monthly Meeting. Friends in Harrogate, Pannal and Scotton came within its orbit. Its leading members included George and Ann Watkinson of Scotton, and the Middleton family of Knaresborough. In 1689 the home of Mary Middleton was licensed for religious worship and the first purpose-built Meeting House opened in 1701 in Gracious Street, Knaresborough. The Meeting declined during the 18th century, one of the reasons being the lack of resident ministers. In 1792 it merged with Netherdale Meeting (based at Dacre). This arrangement lasted until 1826 and the Quaker connection with Knaresborough ceased.

The records are numbered and arranged according to the system used when they were in Clifford Street Meeting House

The conditions of deposit include a clause requiring written prior permission from a Friend Custodian for access to consult current legal documents and any material less than fifty years old

The collection of archives of the Society of Friends formerly held at the Friends Meeting House in Clifford Street, York

In English

Contents listed in Handlist 75, Inventory of the records of Yorkshire General Meeting and York and Thirsk Monthly Meetings of the Society of Friends formerly preserved at the Friends' Meeting House, Clifford Street, York (1986)

There are additional microfilm copies of B 2.1-2.2, B 3, B 5.2-5.3, and C 4.3

As with access, the photocopying of current legal documents and any material less than fifty years old requires the permission of a Friend Custodian

Related material in Leeds University Library: Records of Knaresborough Monthly Meeting and Harrogate Preparative Meeting

See W. Pearson Thistlethwaite, The Quaker Meetings of Knaresborough and Harrogate (Society of Friends, 1984)

The records are deposited and remain the property of the Society of Friends