A meeting of Friends,
the first to be settled in Cumberland, began in a private house
in 1653. As this meeting grew in numbers, it could not be contained
indoors and met for many years in the open air on Pardshaw Crag.
In time the meetings during the winter were divided amongst Friends'
houses in Lamplugh, Pardshaw, Whinfell and Eaglesfield. Eventually,
in 1672, a meeting house was built at Pardshaw and this was enlarged
in 1705. No traces of this building now remain. In 1728 a decision
was taken to build a new meeting house in the Guards near Pardshaw
Hall, including a women's meeting house and a walled burial ground.
Some of the materials from the original meeting house were used
in the construction of the new building and a lintel bearing
the date 1672 may still be seen above the doorway to stables
built in 1731. Later additions included a porch, schoolroom and
carriage shed.
