Quaker Burial Ground Walls

Summary

The walls enclosing a Quaker Burial Ground, which was founded in 1656 to serve the growing comunity of Quakers in the Olveston area and is one of the earliest in the country.

Reasons for Designation

The Quaker Burial Ground walls at Lower Hazel are listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* one of the earliest examples of a Quaker burial ground, the simple form of which is characteristic of the type and survives well;
* although architecturally modest, it reflects attitudes towards burial and commemoration of the Quaker community, and the walls have distinctive features of a moulded oak door case and doors and very large cock-and-hen capping


Historic interest:

* tangible evidence of the lengthy history of Quakerism in the Olveston area

History

The Quaker movement emerged out of a period of religious and political turmoil in the mid-C17. Its main protagonist, George Fox, openly rejected traditional religious doctrine, instead promoting the theory that all people could have a direct relationship with God, without dependence on sermonising ministers, nor the necessity of consecrated places of worship. From 1647 Fox travelled the country as an itinerant preacher. The Quakers, formally named the Religious Society of Friends, was thus established.

Quakerism was introduced to the Olveston area by John Audland and John Camm in 1654. Some local farmers had heard the pair preach on market day in Bristol, and were so impressed that they invited them to repeat their address to a group of farmers on Elberton Green. The movement gained pace rapidly; of the 100 families in the parish, 40 left the Church to become Quakers. The area is significant in terms of the early development of the movement; converts included many yeoman farmers and successful Bristol merchants and businessmen, including a number of prominent families such as the Sturges and Goldneys. George Fox visited Olveston in 1660 and 1666, and then after his marriage to Margaret Fell in 1669, spent his honeymoon at Hill House.

Persecution of nonconformists was common in the C17, with Anglican churches often refusing burial of Quakers on consecrated ground. The need for a burial ground was met by the bequest of a plot of land by John Smith of Lower Hazel. The first documentary evidence of its use is the ‘Olveston Register of Burials’ section of the Quaker Registers; burials at “Hazell” are recorded in 1657 and 1658. It is therefore understood to be the earliest burial ground in the area, closely followed by Downend, established in 1657.

The burial ground is enclosed by stone boundary walls. These were likely to have been built at the point the burial ground was established, though have undergone repair with sections being partially rebuilt. The inconsistency of the coping treatments suggests phased or piecemeal construction or improvement. The datestone, not original to the structure, may be an C18 addition, based on the style of the inscription.

The burial ground remains in use.

Details

Quaker Burial Ground, 1656.

MATERIALS: roughly coursed limestone rubble walls. Oak doors are covered with a pitched roof with stone slates on the outward facing side, and clay tiles within.

PLAN: the burial ground stands just to the north of Quakers, a private house. It is roughly square on plan, orientated with the four corners roughly at the cardinal points. The entrance is at the south-east corner.

DESCRIPTION: the structure is a boundary wall ranging in height from 1.5m to 2.2m. Constructed from roughly coursed rubble, with lengths of cock and hen capping, with a section on the north-east wall which uses very large blocks. Some sections have plain mortar capping. A section of the south-east wall was rebuilt in around 2018.

Entrance to the burial ground is at the south-east corner through a break in the masonry containing a pair of double doors. These are double plank, with strap hinges with scroll details. The doors are set within a wide moulded oak architrave, with a timber structure above supporting the narrow roof above the doorway. There is a plaque adjacent to the doors inscribed ‘FRIENDS BURIAL / GROUND 1656’, possibly dating to the C18.

Sources

Books and journals
Garrett, E, Quakers of Olveston 1654-1868 and the prominent family of Sturge (2005),

Websites
A Survey of Quaker Burial Grounds In Bristol And Frenchay Monthly Meeting, Bristol and Avon Archaeology, vol 13, 1996, accessed 04/07/24 from https://bristolandavonarchaeology.org.uk/app/uploads/2021/01/vol-13.pdf
‘Historical Buildings’, Olveston & Aust Historical Society , accessed 04/07/24 from https://www.olveston.com/index.php/clubs-and-societies/leisure-activities/60-history-society/285-historical-buildings

End of official list entry