ABOUT IFIELD MEETING HOUSE
The Ifield Friends Meeting House is one of the earliest purpose-built Quaker Meeting Houses in the country. The keystone over the door shows the date 1676. The Meeting House has been in continuous use as a place of worship ever since.
It adjoins a blacksmith’s cottage which pre-dates it by nearly 200 years. The blacksmith bequeathed his land and the cottage to the local Quakers (Friends). Prior to the Meeting House being built Quakers met in local houses and conducted their own services. They were a non-conformist movement originating in the 17th Century, with egalitarian principles, and opposed to the hierarchy of the established church.
In 1948 the Meeting House was designated as a Grade I listed building, being of ‘exceptional interest’ and national importance. The cottage itself, now renamed Forge Cottage, has a Grade II* listing. The mounting block at the front has a Grade II listing. The walls of the Meeting House are of dressed sandstone, the roof is tiled with Horsham stone and the windows have leaded lights. The interior is simple in keeping with the non-ostentatious lifestyle of the Quakers.
THE NAME CAMFIELD
There is a small burial plot within the grounds of the Meeting House, where several old local Quaker families are buried. Names familiar to people who have lived in Crawley for a long time include Cheals (founder of the garden centre, now owned by Squires), Robinson (founder of an early school) and Camfield. The Camfield family owned a shop in the High Street and were active in support of people coming into the New Town in the early 1950s. The CFHA committee decided in 1968 to use their name for the building (see the cover of the annual report).
