| Description | A meeting at Wigginshill was first mentioned in the Warwickshire Quarterly Meeting minutes of 1686 (see SF/1/1/1/1) and a meeting house was registered at the Warwickshire Quarter Sessions in 1689. The meeting at Wigginshill is thought to have absorbed the smaller meetings which existed at Wishaw (since 1670), Coleshill and Nether Whitacre and which together, for a short time formed, the Wishaw Monthly Meeting. In 1710, Wigginshill united with Baddesley Ensor and Birrmingham meetings to form the Warwickshire Monthly Meeting and in 1711 Wigginshill was appointed a Preparative Meeting.
A new meeting house was built in 1724, and it was described as being 'on the same plan as most of the other early country meeting houses: the part furthest from the road was used for a meeting house, the middle section for a lobby with a gallery over it, having shutters so that when required it served for Women's Monthly Meetings, whilst the end next [to] the road was used for a stable for the horses of those who attended the meeting' (Reports of Trust Property 1895, SF/1/9/4/1). The building cost under £100, with £40 being contributed by meetings across Warwickshire, and the remainder being provided by local meetings. Families who contributed to the building costs include Knight, Bradford, Summerland, Whitehead, Keatley, Priest, Arnott and Snape.
The meeting had a regular congregation of about 50 Friends or less for over a century, but by 1737, the number attending the meeting was already in decline, though meetings still continued to be held there during the 18th century. Towards the end of the 18th century, it became fashionable for Birmingham Quakers to marry there, with the last marriage ceremonies being held on the 17th of the August 1791. These were the marriage ceremonies of the two daughters of Sampson Lloyd.
By 1830, numbers were insufficient to maintain the meeting and the meeting house closed. It was later reopened briefly in 1879 but in 1907 it was converted into two cottages and let. In 1950 these were sold.
See SF/3 for a description of the functions of the Local/Preparative Meeting. See SF/2 for a description of the functions of the Monthly Meeting. |