Rawdon Preparative Meeting of the Society of Friends.

Guiseley Meeting was recorded in 1665 as part of Skipton Monthly Meeting, and again in 1669 as part of Knaresborough Monthly Meeting. A group of Friends from Rawdon, Henry Whitacre, Samuel Marshall, Abraham and Edward Grimshaw, and Matthew and John Hargraves, were imprisoned in 1682 for refusal to swear the oath of allegiance. Distraints of goods for non-payment of tithes from Friends in the area, including several members of the Grimshaw family, are also recorded by Besse for the period up to 1690. A Meeting House was built in Rawdon in 1697 on a piece of enclosed common land, with an adjoining burial ground; local Friends also used a burial ground in Dibhouses from 1671 until 1699. Around this time the name of the Meeting changed to Rawdon. The conduct of worship at Rawdon was investigated by Quarterly Meeting in 1717 after reports that Friends were not removing their hats during prayer. The accounts of travelling Friends who visited Rawdon during the 18th century testify to a well-attended Meeting which became the largest within Knaresborough Monthly Meeting. The Meeting House was enlarged and altered at several points during 1700s and 1800s, and is still in use for worship today. In 1853, the Meeting was transferred to Brighouse Monthly Meeting, and again in 1924 to Leeds Monthly Meeting.

From the guide to the Records of Rawdon Preparative Meeting of the Society of Friends, 1700-1992, (GB 206 Leeds University Library)