There were Friends in Bingley from as early as 1664, when Jonas Bottomley and his children were imprisoned for non-payment of tithes. In 1682 John Eastburne, Richard Shackleton, Joshua Bottomley, John Milner, Richard Walker and William Frankland, all of Bingley, were committed to York Castle by the Quarter Sessions in Wakefield for refusing to take the oath of allegiance. There is also evidence of a Meeting House and burial ground in Sleningford Road, Crossflatts in the early part of the 18th century. The burial ground was owned by Timothy Maud (died 1734) and includes the burials of several members of the Maud, Lister, Taylor and Shackleton families. New premises were acquired on Elm Tree Road in 1753 and were in use for worship until around 1800. Local Friends were members of Keighley Preparative Meeting, which occasionally met in Bingley. It was not until 1958 that Bingley opened as an Allowed Meeting in its own right, becoming a Preparative Meeting a year later. It was part of Brighouse Monthly Meeting and met in Southfield Road from 1964 until its closure in 1978.
From the guide to the Records of Bingley Preparative Meeting of the Society of Friends, 1960-1978, (GB 206 Leeds University Library)
