Skipton holds an important place in the history of Quakerism, both within Yorkshire and nationally. Following the settlement of a Meeting at neighbouring Scalehouse in the early 1650s, Friends were also convinced in Bradley, Carleton and Skipton. A series of general meetings for Friends in the north were held at Scalehouse from 1657 to 1659, whilst in 1660, a general meeting for the whole country was held in Skipton itself. Cases of sufferings for Skipton are recorded by Besse for as early as 1654, when Miles Halhead was attacked whilst preaching in the market place and William Simpson was beaten for going naked through the streets "as a sign". The Meeting was recorded under the name of Bradley in 1665, within Skipton Monthly Meeting, and again in 1669, within the newly formed Knaresborough Monthly Meeting. At this point, it covered Silsden, Skipton, Carleton, Lothersdale and Cononley, as well as Bradley, and its members included Thomas Sawley, Peter Scarborough, Robert Smith, James Dealtry, Edward Watkinson, Francis Dunn, Thomas Smith, Arthur Roberts, Jonas Booth and John Stott. Local First Publishers of Truth included the Taylor brothers, Christopher and Thomas, both schoolmasters from Carleton. The homes of John Hall and Abigail Stott in Skipton were licensed for Quaker worship in 1689; Abigail Stott's house had been used throughout the 1680s, with meetings frequently broken up. It is likely that the Meeting became known as Skipton during this decade, possibly after the death in 1684 of the early local Friend Edward Watkinson of Bradley. Two cottages off Newmarket in Skipton were acquired in 1693 by John Hall and John Cowper, the cottages demolished and a Meeting House erected in their stead, with an adjoining burial ground. The first local burial ground, at Bradley, was in use from around 1663. A Quaker boarding school for boys was set up in Skipton by David Hall in 1703 and this lasted until at least 1756, the date of David Hall's death. The Meeting was transferred to Brighouse Monthly Meeting in 1853, and Friends in Addingham, Lothersdale and Keighley joined the Meeting. By the later 19th century the Meeting was in decline and closed in 1897, with the remaining members joining the re-formed Keighley Meeting. An Allowed Meeting opened in Skipton in 1907, following renewed Quaker activity in the area (such as the Airedale Tramp in 1905, the first Easter Settlement of the Yorkshire 1905 Committee in 1906, and the formation of an Adult School in Skipton also in 1906). It became part of the re-formed Settle Monthly Meeting in 1924, and re-gained full Preparative Meeting status in 1932. The Meeting still exists.
From the guide to the Records of Skipton Preparative Meeting of the Society of Friends, 1665-1969, (GB 206 Leeds University Library)
