Christopher Taylor was the first to preach the Quaker message in Dacre, but no date is given for this. The sufferings of local Friends are recorded by Besse from 1660 onwards; several were imprisoned in January 1683 by Wetherby Sessions for not attending church and refusing to take the oath of allegiance. Netherdale Meeting, based at Dacre, is first recorded in 1665 as part of Skipton Monthly Meeting. In 1669 it became a constituent of Knaresborough Monthly Meeting. Its leading members were Henry Settle, Miles Oddy, Peter Hardcastle and John Bainbridge, and they met in private houses, such as Hardcastle Garth, for almost three decades. Two plots of land were given to Friends for a burial ground in Dacre in 1697; a Meeting House built the previous year was sited on one of these plots. Friends from Knaresborough joined the Meeting in 1792. The state of the building at Dacre after more than a century influenced Friends to move to Darley and erect a new Meeting House in 1802. This was partly funded by the sale of the burial ground at Stanbury. The name of the Meeting was changed to Darley to reflect this move. In 1853 it became part of York Monthly Meeting. The Meeting declined in numbers and by 1880, Friends were meeting at the home of Thompson Walker at Birstwith. The Meeting was discontinued in 1887, but it was not until 1950 that the Meeting House was sold.
From the guide to the Records of Dacre Preparative Meeting of the Society of Friends, 1700-1714, (GB 206 Leeds University Library)
From the guide to the Records of Dacre Preparative Meeting of the Society of Friends, 1701-1950, (GB 206 Leeds University Library)
