Chichester Friends Meetinghouse is a historic

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

meeting house A meeting house (meetinghouse, meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a * church, which is a body of people who believe in Chr ...

at 611 Meetinghouse Road near

Boothwyn Boothwyn is a census-designated place (CDP) in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,933 at the 2010 census, down from 5,206 at the 2000 census. The census estimation for population circa 2019 is 6,115. History The ...

, in

Upper Chichester Township Upper Chichester Township is a civil township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 16,738 at the 2010 census. History The Lenni Lenape Indians were the earliest occupants of Upper Chichester. They erected several s ...

Delaware County, Pennsylvania Delaware County, colloquially referred to as Delco, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With a population of 576,830 as of the 2020 census, it is the List of counties in Pennsylvan ...

. This area, near

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, was one of the earliest areas settled by Quakers in Pennsylvania. The meetinghouse, first built in 1688, then rebuilt after a fire in 1769, reflects this early Quaker heritage. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1973.

History

In the year that

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

first arrived in Pennsylvania, 1682, the Chichester Meeting was first organized as an "indulged meeting" or subsidiary meeting of the Uplands Monthly Meeting of present-day

. The Uplands Meeting had been organized by Robert Wade, who arrived in the area in 1675, from earlier Quaker settlements in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Chichester attained the status of Monthly Meeting in March, 1684. ''Note:'' This includes This group of Friends met in member's homes until about 1688 when a square meetinghouse was built on two acres. The land was sold on October 4, 1688 by James.chichestermeetinghouse.org Brown for 1 shilling and sixpence "only for the use of the people of God, called Quakers." In January 1769 the meetinghouse burned down, and later that year a 33 by building was erected in its place. The doors show bullet holes incurred from British foraging parties after the

Battle of Brandywine The Battle of Brandywine, also known as the Battle of Brandywine Creek, was fought between the American Continental Army of General George Washington and the British Army of General Sir William Howe on September 11, 1777, as part of the Ame ...

in September, 1777. In 1793 a school was organized at the meetinghouse and it continued until 1836 when the state mandated public education. About 1827, the time of the Orthodox-Hicksite separation, two meetings were established in the building. The Orthodox branch was "laid down" or discontinued in 1880. The Hicksite branch was discontinued in 1914. Since then the meetinghouse has only been used for special occasions. No modern conveniences such as heat, plumbing or electricity have been added to the building, so it is considered to be in pristine condition. Text and photographs by HABS It was illegal to build Quaker meetinghouses in England until the Act of Toleration of 1689. Because meetinghouses were built in this area of Pennsylvania at an earlier date, and because the 1769 meetinghouse is believed to reflect the style of the earlier meetinghouse, the Chichester Meetinghouse is believed to show an early "English" style of Quaker architecture. A caretaker's house was built in 1703 and in 1783 a two-story barn with a six bay shed was built. Both buildings are still in use.

Gallery

File:Chichester interior.jpeg, Interior File:Chichester carvings.jpeg, Carved graffiti File:Chichester 2 seater.jpeg, Conveniences File:Chi MeetingHouse-1776.jpg, In the 19th century

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Cemeteries in Delaware County, Pennsylvania Quaker meeting houses in Pennsylvania Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Churches completed in 1769 Churches in Delaware County, Pennsylvania 18th-century Quaker meeting houses National Register of Historic Places in Delaware County, Pennsylvania