Burial Ground Wall North Of The Friend'S Meeting House

A Quaker burial ground wall dating from 1694, located north of the Friend’s Meeting House in Moorhouse. The wall is constructed of brick upon a cobble foundation, topped with rounded sandstone copings. The burial ground itself is rectangular in plan. The wall rises slightly at the southwest and southeast corners, with an entrance positioned centrally within the west wall. The entrance is flanked by a chamfered red sandstone surround, with a collapsed lintel dated 1694 and a partially obstructing collapsed sandstone surround. Sections of the wall have collapsed, particularly along the east and south sides. Numerous simple, inscribed stone gravemarkers are present within the burial ground.

The Society of Friends established a presence in the mid-17th century, and Moorhouse was an early and influential meeting. An initial meeting house was built in 1681, and the burial ground was acquired in 1694, situated approximately 80m north of the meeting house. In 1733, the original meeting house was replaced with a larger structure, and a boundary wall was built in front of the burial ground plot around the same time. The Moorhouse meeting was formally discontinued in 1913, and the meeting house subsequently served as a Methodist chapel until about 1967, after which it was sold and converted into a dwelling. The burial ground has been disused since 1936 and has suffered from a lack of maintenance. Unobtrusive repairs were undertaken in the 20th century, incorporating machine-made bricks and iron ties to secure some coping stones. Despite these repairs, some sections of the wall have collapsed, including much of the eastern side.

The wall is designated at Grade II, alongside the associated meeting house and boundary wall, reflecting its historical significance to the Society of Friends and the area. The use of local materials exemplifies the vernacular construction methods common among Quakers. A lintel above the entrance collapsed during a site visit in 2008.