In looking up the history of Court House Farm, it was interesting to read details published by the then Portishead Preservation Society in 1958 (now the Gordano Society), and in Miss Wigan's book The History of Gordano, of affairs connected with another old building, the Friends Meeting House in St Mary's Road.
The "Possett" Friends were, it seems, a very lively interesting and assertive group of people. In a biography published in 1713 of a Dr Bull (born 1634) who was the vicar of a local church, it states that he found the area
[...] to abound with Quakers and other wild sectaries who held very extravagant opinions
Miss Wigan, in her book written some 300 years later, puts it in a different way and writes
[...] the early Quakers were not all the quiet and sober Friends who now seek peace
A few of them are mentioned.
Edmond Beakes, born 1606, who as a Royalist supporter helped build the timber ramparts on Battery Point in 1644. Another was the son of the same name who owned Greenfield Farm, a little way up St Mary's Road above the Meeting House. They, along with Thomas Parsons and Thomas Hodds were some of the first Friends who in 1668 met George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, when he visited Portishead.
From 1658, Friends were meeting in private houses, and within a year or two regularly in the house of Thomas Parsons (now called the Grange, on the High Street round the corner from St Mary's Road), who in 1670 was committed to Ilchester Gaol. The following year he died of fever.
Virtually until 1700, with the passing of the Toleration Act, the Quakers, men and women, were persecuted, fined, imprisoned, and their goods seized. The records in the County Record Office in Taunton show the offences were for such as attending a religious meeting other than an official church service, visiting a friend in prison, or for not wearing a hat, which they were expected to doff as a mark of respect.
The Meeting House in St Mary's Road was built either in the grounds of Hodds' cottage, or his residence was adapted. This was about 1669. Around the same time, records show a piece of land was acquired for a burial ground. The small grave stones remaining that are readable, in the main relate to 1800 onward, but there is one old headstone marked WH 1687.
In 1662, a meeting being held in the Meeting House, the Parish Constable arrived and the inoffensive congregation, which re-assembled "under the canopy of Heaven" by the elm trees further down the road, while the Constable sat on a stile (the present gates to the school) and listened to the whole proceedings.
The Meeting House is mentioned in a deed of 1702, and has continued in steady use down the centuries. Sir Edward Fry of Failand House was a regular attender, and he brought with him many notable Friends.
Over the years it has had to be restored and repaired. A lobby and toilets were added in recent times. The thatch is to be replaced this autumn. It will be interesting to see this work carried out.
Walking round this simple thatched building and tiny burial ground it is hard to understand the turmoil and suffering that was so steadfastly borne by those early Friends. It is a very peaceful memorial to them, and a place should value as one of the oldest meeting places in the country.
So, when you pass along St Mary's Road, remember those who defended their faith and meeting house, and walked the streets of Portishead 350 years ago.