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Extract
from the Yorkshire Evening Post, 12/1/1928
Gale Snaps Link with Quakerism - Historic Walnut Trees
A romantic link
with the troublesome times of the Restoration and the
founding of Quakerism was broken when two walnut trees,
said to be 500 years old, in the yard of Rose Farm, at
the junction of Cross Street and Warmsworth Road, Balby,
were blown down in the recent gale.
Under these two trees, George Fox, often described as the
founder of Quakerism preached when he visited Doncaster
during his travels in England.
Ancestors of the Warde-Aldams of Frickley Hall were the
chief persons in the group that accepted his message.
They were Thomas Aldam and his wife, and John and Thomas
Kilham and their wives, Margaret and Joan, sisters of
Thomas Aldam For many years after his death, meetings
were held regularly under the walnut trees. The trees
stood in the orchard of the farm which was then known as
Kilham's. The Warde-Aldams still have the stool on which
Fox preached at Frickley Hall.
Mr. Warde-Aldam would not allow the walnut trees at Balby
to be touched as long as they were spared by the weather,
and on their account he refused offers for the purchase
of the land.
Tradition, reinforced by the historical fact that John
Kilham and his brother were both married to sisters of
Thomas Aldam, in whose family the Rose Farm property has
remained until 1830, identifies the two trees which fell
in the gale of January, 1928, as being those whose shade
sheltered the Quaker apostle on that occasion.
Extract
from the Doncaster Gazette 20/3/1931 -
New Furniture with a History made from Trees under which
George Fox preached at Balby -
Not often can
it be claimed that brand new furniture has a history but
for the chair and table of which a photograph has been
taken specially for the Doncaster Gazette, such a claim
can confidently be made.
They have been fashioned by Mr. J.Hirst of Hall Gate,
Doncaster and Wadworth, an old tradesman and a prominent
member of the Society of Friends, out of wood taken from
two ancient walnut trees which grew in the yard at Rose
Farm, Balby. A similar chair, made from the same historic
wood, is to be presented to the headquarters of the
Society of Friends in this country, at Friends' House,
London.
The
thought expressed by the panel of the chair.
The sketch of the orchard.
Here George Fox
gave his message to the world, that all men had the power
of communion with God, without any outward form, hence
the Globe above the trees. When a plank 12" by
2" from one of the trees was sawn through, it was
found to be riddled with lead shot embedded in the centre
of the plank. These shot can be seen on the rail under
the panel at the back.
Period
of the chair design, 1623.
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