WINTER
2001 
Woodbury to BuryGeorge A. Crispin
Woodbury MMIn journeying to Bury, England, we had four basic objectives:
- To represent the Quakers of Woodbury Friends Meeting, and beyond, at the dedication ceremonies at the Parish Church of St. Anne in Tottington, during which they honored Quakers, specifically Henry Wood, whom they persecuted 300 years ago;
- To visit and establish a durable connection with Quakers in the area of Bury/Tottington, and, hopefully, encourage the development of a relationship between the Quakers and Anglicans of that area;
- To visit as many of the Quaker sites in the area as possible in order to gain a “hands on” understanding of their lives; and
- To foster and nurture a generalized positive relationship with the general private citizens with whom we met.
All of these, I believe, were successfully met. The dedication service for the stain glass window installed in the Parish Church of St. Anne was attended by many high-level, respected dignitaries of the area, including the High Sheriff of Lancashire, Sir Jeremy Black, the Mayor of Bury, and others. At this service I spoke, carrying minutes from Woodbury Friends Meeting, Salem Quarterly Meeting, and representing Quakerism, the first Quaker to speak in their church since the departure of Henry Wood in 1682. In was an inspiring occasion. I have my part in it on videotape.
After the service I had the opportunity to meet some of the higher officials of the Anglican Church. Concomitant to the actual service, I was interviewed on the BBC, both on national radio and television, which was broadcast throughout Great Britain.
On First Day, March 25, 2001, the Quakers and others from Woodbury visited Crawshawbooth Meeting, which lies about half an hour by car from Tottington. With me I carried a traveling minute from Woodbury Friends Meeting and Salem Quarterly Meeting. It was an inspiring and remarkable meeting in that their rather small meetinghouse was bursting with attendees on that occasion. Several from our group, Friends and non-Friends, were moved to speak in worship.
They had prepared a luncheon for us, the press came during part of the gathering and interviewed Hilary Barnes, who spoke for their Meeting, and myself. As a result of the morning worship at Crawshawbooth, several Friends from that Meeting attended the dedication service that evening. Therein may be the beginning of a relationship between the Anglicans and Quakers of that area, which was one of the aims of our mission.
During our stay we were graciously chauffeured throughout northern England visiting Quaker sites. Most disappointing was not to be able to climb Pendle Hill due to the hoof-and-mouth epidemic. However, we went to Swarthmore Hall, where our hosts had arranged a guided tour for us. We spent the better part of a couple of hours seeing, in some cases, places that were not on the official tour. We hope to maintain contact with Swarthmore Hall by e-mail and snail mail.
On another day we went to Lancashire Castle, which was used as a jail in the time of George Fox. Both Fox and Henry Wood were imprisoned there. We saw the prisons, and I was allowed to enter one, while they closed and locked the door behind me. There is nothing like direct experience to gain an appreciation of what early Quakers went through.
On another day we visited George Fox country to interview an expert on the life of Fox. We visited an inn where Fox may have spent time when he descended Pendle Hill. Through our interview and discussions we gained much valuable information and insight.
On our last two days in Britain we traveled to London. While there we visited the Tower of London and saw where William Penn was held prisoner for writing his pamphlet No Cross, No Crown. It was there that a most unusual encounter occurred. I began asking one of the guides questions about questions about Quaker imprisonment there and he replied that he was not clear about Quakers and why they were imprisoned. This became a useful opportunity to explain to the guide what Quakers stood for and why they got into trouble with the authorities.
It became an interesting turnaround. When we parted he stated that I had filled him in on parts of his tour where he was very weak. Upon going to the clerk of records for the Tower of London, I found that a Lord William Crispin was held there from December 1415 until February 1417. He may well have been my grandfather twelve generations ago.
During our visit we greeted in a more general way many people whom we met. On one occasion a man poked me on the arm and told me that there was a woman who wanted “to meet a Quaker.” He took me to her and we had an enjoyable chat about “What is a Quaker?” There were many other informal times during our stay in which we did this kind of interacting. I cannot help but feel that there are undoubtedly quite a number of people whose awareness of Quakerism has been greatly increased. People seem to know about our stand on social issues, and seem to have a generally good opinion of Quakers. But they know almost nothing of our religious beliefs. Explaining these beliefs became a considerable part of my mission.
I feel that our mission has been fulfilled, and that were Henry Wood to have materialized among us he would have felt that his ideal of a society built upon freedom and understanding had met with its right fulfillment.
RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS
Last modified:
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:19 AM
