A Social Experiment
A Social Experiment
Beside his grave, pebbles are left by visitors from North America, two of whom had to be stopped from attempting to exhume the remains as they wished them to be reinterred in their state capital.
This post is a celebration of the Chalfont Quakers, a community with an eventful history going back to the early 17th century.
Over the centuries, the Chiltern Hills have attracted political dissenters and religious non-conformers who met, plotted and worshiped in secret amongst the beech trees and remote valley’s. Many would go on to make their mark on the nation’s history.
You won’t come upon Jordans village, you have to set out to find it. Located 30 miles to the west of London, Jordans is tucked away down higgledy-piggledy lanes east of the busy market town of Beaconsfield, Jordans village is everything its neighbour is not: compact, unexpected and peaceful, with neat cottages and terraces nestled around the village green. So English, so Chilterns!
This unassuming village is unique, with deep local roots and influence that still reaches far-off places. It owes this accolade to its Society of Friends Meeting House, one of the oldest in the country and still a vibrant centre today.
‘Jordans is the Quaker Westminster Abbey’.
Simon Jenkins author “England ’s Thousand Best Churches”
The simple bare-walled meeting room retains most of its original and uneven locally-fired bare-brick floor, viscous window glass (turned upside down each year to retain an even thickness), dark wood panelling and some well-worn benches.
American Connections
William Russell, owner of Jordan’s Farm was himself a Quaker. Known today as Old Jordans, this collection of buildings is said to have been constructed with some of the beams and a cabin door of the Mayflower, the ship that took the Pilgrim Fathers to the shores of the future colony of Virginia in 1620. Russell bought a piece of land in a clearing beside the Beaconsfield Road in 1671 for a burial site for the non-conformists and his daughter was in fact the first to be buried there. The Jordans Friends Meeting House was built in just three months by local craftsmen in 1688. They made the most of the King James ll Declaration of Indulgence that allowed Quaker and other non-conformist groups to worship lawfully for the first time.
‘Some of what Quakers would do included; not going to church, refusing to swear an oath, refusal to pay church rates, teaching without a Bishop’s license, opening their shops on and travelling on Sundays… the 1960’s had nothing on them!’
Mary Bellamy
Penn-Sylvania
William Penn (1645 – 1718), is buried here, with his first wife Guilielma, second wife Hannah, and nine of his children buried close by. Other early Quakers who worshipped here and are buried in the grounds include Isaac Penington and his wife Mary Springett, Thomas Ellwood (poet and friend of John Bunyan and John Milton). Despite William Penn leaving his name to a new American state and a haven for his Quakers, he wanted to call it ‘Sylvania’, it was Charles II who ordered that the family name Penn (in honour of William’s late father) be added: Pennsylvania, Penns Wood.
To mark their visit, visitors leave pebbles beside his grave. Two of whom had to be stopped from attempting to exhume his remains as they wished them to be reinterred in the American state capital! Probably an urban myth, but poignant all the same.
There are 400 recorded burials, and the headstones are all that are left of a large number that were removed in the 18th century - deemed too flashy and worldly!
A social experiment
In 1916 a group of Quaker’s established a community partnership and three years later, the first stone was laid. This social and industrial experiment, where land was owned communally and craftsmen’s work sold cooperatively, grew around the village green, with Fred Rowntree the architect. The homes are uniform in style, not grand or fussy with the village shop open since 1922. Whilst there is no permanent pub, a pop-up pub called the Jolly Quaker quenches thirst’s.
The housing waiting list is long, and the village has seen its share of famous residents; King Zog of Albania with his legendary chests of gold, (he lived at St Katherine’s Parmoor during the World War II), author Fredrick Forsyth and musicians Ozzie and Sharon Osborne.
This village really is a Chilterns Treasure, there’s nothing else like it in the country.
Links you will need
From Pulpit to Prison tells the story of how prisoner of conscience, John Bunyan's books and personal example helped transform the way ordinary people worshipped, empowering them and their communities from rural Bedfordshire to world-renown.
Visit Jordan’s Quaker Meeting House & Centre and the nearby Chilterns in miniature at Bekonscot Model Village.
Chilterns Gifts have beautiful locally designed and photographed bluebell-themed gifts and souvenirs. If you like an image, please get in touch.