CONTENTS

The Religious Society of Friends
First meeting of Quakers in Ireland held in Lurgan
Moyallon and Portadown Meetings
Lurgan Meeting House
Lynastown Burial Ground
Quaker links with Pennsylvania
Influence of Friends in Craigavon

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Craigavon's strong links with the Quakers
(The Religious Society of Friends)

First Quaker meeting
First quaker graveyard
The economic influence of the Quakers
Links with Pennsylvania
Present day

The Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends was founded in the seventeenth century by George Fox (1624-1691) a weavers son from Fennydrayton in Leicestershire. The title 'Friends' was adopted in 1652, the religious group being previously called 'Children of the Light' and 'Friends of the Truth'. The Puritan magistrate Gervase Bannett at Derby first used the term 'Quakers' in 1650 after witnessing the trembling of Friends under religious fervour.

First meeting of Quakers in Ireland held in Lurgan
The first meeting of the Society of Friends in Ireland took place in Lurgan in 1654 by William Edmundson who left Cromwell's army to settle in Ireland. He set up business as a shopkeeper in Antrim but such was the success of his business that he soon had to return to England to purchase more stock. Whilst in England he attended a meeting held by the Quaker Minister James Nayler. Following this meeting Edmundson adopted the Quaker faith. He then moved from Antrim to Lurgan in 1654 where he again set up business. In his home in Lurgan Edmundson gathered with his wife, brother and four others to worship. Thus the first meeting of the Society of Friends was formed.

Moyallon and Portadown Meetings
A small number of private houses in the Craigavon area became meeting places for Quaker worship, amongst them the home of the Webb family in Aghacommon, the Wright family of Legahory and Lynas of Moyraverty. Alexander Christy, a Quaker from Scotland founded a branch of the Society of Friends in the Moyallon area in 1692. A meetinghouse for this area was built in 1736 and today a meeting is held there for a small congregation on a monthly basis.

Portadown MeetingHouse is relatively modern in comparison to those at Lurgan and Moyallon. It was built in 1905 and is today used on a weekly basis for meetings amounting to approximately thirty.

Lurgan Meeting-House
The first Lurgan MeetingHouse was built in the town in 1696 as a result of subscriptions from 120 members of the Quaker congregation. The chief subscriber was Robert Hoope, a prominent local linen merchant who donated a quarter of the total expenses required to build the meetinghouse. From Province Meeting records of 1699 it can be seen that Lurgan Meeting was one of the largest in Ulster and Moyallon had one of the smallest.

Lynastown Burial Ground
When one of the founding members of this group, William Lynas died in 1658, Quaker principles would not allow for a Priest to conduct a burial service in the local Graveyard. Lynas therefore was buried in his own land in Moyraverty. This small plot of land became known as Lynastown and was used for the burial of 200 Quakers until 1967 when it transferred to the care of Craigavon Borough Council.

Quaker links with Pennsylvania
When William Penn founded Pennsylvania in 1681 more Friends emigrated from County Armagh than from any other county in Ireland and Lurgan Meeting was well represented. Pennsylvanian settlements such as Lurgan (Franklin County) and Menallen, named after Moyallen, (Fayette County) emphasise local connections.

The most important Lurgan man in the development of Pennsylvania was James Logan, born in the town in 1674. He came to the attention of William Penn, after whom Pennsylvania State is named and Governor of the Friends school in Bristol where Logan taught, and accompanied Penn as his secretary to Pennsylvania in 1699. At various times over the next forty years Logan held the positions of Mayor of Philadelphia and Chief Judge of the Supreme Court.

Influence of Friends in Craigavon
Always few in number, Friends had a social and economic influence far beyond the proportion of their numbers. They were particularly significant in the linen industry. Important early Lurgan Quaker linen families included the Turners, Bradshaws, Nicholsons, Christys and Greers. As industrialisation of the linen industry progressed, Quaker families such as the Richardsons and Bells developed large spinning and weaving factories in the area.

Always prominent in the field of education, local members of the Society of Friends were responsible for the building of a number of schools in the area. The Richardson family of Moyallon Meeting built the old Moyallon School in 1859 for the benefit of the entire community, the same Richardson family built a new school close to the former in 1932. Friends School in Lisburn is one particularly fine school built by the Quakers in 1774.

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Craigavon's strong links with the Quakers
(The Religious Society of Friends)

First Quaker meeting
It was in the Craigavon area (Lurgan) that the first settled meeting of the Religious Society of Friends was held in Ireland in 1654.

First quaker graveyard
When William Lynas, one of those early Friends, died on 22nd June 1658 his body was interred at what became the Quaker Burying Ground at Lynastown, now in the care of Craigavon Borough Council.

The economic influence of the Quakers
Always few in number, Friends had a social and economic influence far beyond the proportion of their numbers. They were particularly significant in the linen industry. Important early Lurgan Quaker linen families were the Turners, Bradshaws, Nicholsons, Christys and Greers. As industrialisation of the industry progressed, Quaker families such as the Richardsons and Bells developed large spinning and weaving factories.

Links with Pennsylvania
When William Penn founded Pennsylvania in 1681 more Friends emigrated from County Armagh than from any other county in Ireland and Lurgan Meeting was well represented. Pennsylvanian settlements such as Lurgan in Franklin County and Menallen, (named after Moyallen), in Fayette County, emphasise local connections.

The most important Lurgan man in the development of Pennsylvania was James Logan, born in the town in 1674. He became secretary to William Penn and at various times acted as Mayor of Philadelphia and Chief Judge of the Supreme Court.

Present day
Lurgan still has an active Quaker community that gathers regularly in a newly built meetinghouse.

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