Brigflatts Meeting House

Briggflatts Meeting House
Interior

Brigflatts Meeting House or Briggflatts Meeting House is a Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), near Sedbergh, Cumbria, in north-western England. Built in 1675, it is the second oldest Friends Meeting House in England.[1] It has been listed Grade I on the National Heritage List for England since March 1954.[2] It is the subject of a twelve-line poem titled "At Briggflatts meetinghouse" by British modernist poet Basil Bunting. Bunting's poem was written in 1975 for the 300th anniversary of the meeting house's construction.[3][4]

Throughout its history, the spelling has varied from Brigflatts, Brigflats, Briggflats, or Briggflatts, for both the village and the Quaker Meeting.[1][5] Currently, the Quaker Meeting uses the spelling "Brigflatts".[6] The variant spelling with two g's and two t's was used by Bunting for his two poems, "At Briggflatts Meetinghouse" (1975) and the earlier autobiographical long poem Briggflatts (1965).

The Meeting House 'Howgills' in Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire is based on Brigflatts.[7]

  1. ^ a b Thurgood, Julian (12 December 2005). "Brigflatts Meeting House". VisitCumbria.com. Julian Thurgood. Archived from the original on 7 May 2006. Retrieved 7 May 2006.
  2. ^ Historic England, "The Friends' Meeting House and adjoining cottage to west (1384080)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 August 2020
  3. ^ Jacket Magazine (October 1999). "Basil Bunting - poem - At Briggflatts meetinghouse (1975)". Jacket Magazine. Retrieved 1 December 2006.
  4. ^ Basil Bunting Poetry Centre (25 February 2004). "Bunting texts". Archived from the original on 18 July 2006. Retrieved 1 December 2006. Cites the poem as Odes II:11, 1975.
  5. ^ Grant, Simon (6 April 2002). "Briggflats Meeting House". North-West Quakers web site > 1652 country. John Arnison (photographer). Simon Grant. Archived from the original on 13 October 2006. Retrieved 7 May 2006.
  6. ^ See: Brigflatts Quaker Meeting. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  7. ^ Historic England, "'Howgills' (Society of Friends Meeting House) (1347287)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 August 2020