Friends Meeting House, Friargate

Joseph attended meetings at the Friends’ Meeting House on Friargate, the centre of Quaker worship in York. The third quarter of the seventeenth century was a difficult period and many York Quakers were imprisoned in the castle or persecuted. In spite of this, the Friends’ Meeting House was built in 1674 and is still in use today although it has undergone several redevelopments and Joseph would not recognise it. Notable York Quakers, including the Rowntree and Tuke families, played a leading role in striving to improve living and working conditions, and made important contributions to Quakerism nationally.