| Description | Although there had been a Quaker presence in the Hartshill area prior to the early 18th century, it was not until 1702 that a meeting house was established there when Nathaniel Newton junior, farmer (son of Nathaniel Newton senior, of nearby Baddesley Preparative Meeting) conveyed a cottage, part of a barn and half an acre of land to trustees of the meeting, and it was registered at Quarter Sessions. A second meeting house was built in 1720, but was destroyed in a riot. Another meeting house was constructed in 1740 and a school for local Quaker children was in existence from 1742, funded by a bequest from Nathaniel Newton junior.
As it was a small meeting, Hartshill Preparative Meeting was joined with Baddesley [Ensor] Preparative Meeting, and in the case of the women's meeting, took turns to hold the meetings in Baddesley and Hartshill from 1750s. Membership of the meeting fell at the end of the 18th century and it closed in 1838. With the help of Arthur John Naish, George Dymond and John Dixon of Birmingham, and Edward Brewin of Leicester, the meeting house was repaired and a meeting was established again in 1869, which became well attended. Warwickshire North Monthly Meeting Committee with the Care of Small Meetings appointed a sub-committee to support Hartshill Meeting in 1885, and a Congregational meeting was also established. The meeting became a Preparative Meeting in 1920.
The meeting house became a private residence and the school building was demolished in 1970s to make room for a new Quaker Centre which opened in 1972.
Families of note in the 18th and early 19th centuries included the Newtons, Lythalls, Fowlers, Rathbones and Crosfields.
See also SF/2/1/1/10/4/2 for records relating to Nathaniel Newton's Charity. For the records of Baddesley and Hartshill Preparative Meeting, see SF/3/1.
See SF/3 for a description of the functions of the Local/Preparative Meeting. |