George Fox in Scarborough
George Fox (1642 to 1691) was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, also known as the Quakers.
From 1647 he preached publicly and he believed the Holy Spirit guided him, he was against any religious rituals.
He called churches ‘steeple-houses’, shunning the idea that churches were places of religious experience.
Authorities disapproved of his beliefs and Fox was persecuted as he travelled the world.
Quaker meetings were held in the town from 1651 onwards, and George Fox is thought to have first visited Scarborough in 1651.
He returned in 1663 and found a well-established congregation in the town.
Fox was later imprisoned at Scarborough Castle for 16 months from 1665 to 1666 for his beliefs: the Castle was used as a prison at this time.
Meeting Houses in Scarborough
From a meeting place within a domestic home in the town, a Quaker burial ground was founded in what is now Westover Road.
In 1676, what is thought to be the second Quaker meeting house was opened in Lower Conduit Street (now Princess Square).
This was replaced in 1801 with the building in St Sepulchre Street, later replaced by premises in York Place.
The York Place premises were demolished in 1990.
There is a meeting house in Woodlands Drive, near Scarborough Hospital.
George Fox and Scarborough Castle
Fox describes his arrival and time at the Castle in his own words.
‘When we were come to Scarborough, they took me to an inn, and gave notice to the governor, who sent six soldiers to be my guard that night. Next day they conducted me into the castle, put me in a room, and set a sentry on me. As I was very weak, and subject to fainting, they sometime let me go out into the air with the sentry.
‘They soon removed me out of this room and put me into an open one, where the rain came in, and which was exceedingly thick with smoke, which was very offensive to me … I was forced to lay out about fifty shilling to stop out the rain, and keep the room from smoking so much.
‘When I had been at that charge, and made it tolerable, they removed me to a worse room, which I had neither chimney nor fire-hearth. This being towards the sea-side and lying much open, the wind drove in the rain forcibly so that water came over my bed, and ran so about the room was fain to skim it up with a platter. When my clothes were wet, I had no fire to dry them; so that my body was benumbed with cold, and my finger swelled so that one was grown as big as two.
‘Though I was at some charge in this room also, I could not keep out the wind and rain … I was forced for the first quarter to hire one of another society to bring me necessities. Sometimes the soldiers would take it from her, and she would scuffle with them for it.’
In 1666, with Charles II on the throne, eventually Fox was release on the 1st September 1666.
Fox died in London in 1691.
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