A group of Friends emerged around Liversedge in the early 1650s, after George Fox passed through the area; however they were historically part of Brighouse Preparative Meeting. They included the Green family, William Newby and Rowland Glaister in Liversedge, and Jonas Long or Lang in neighbouring Hightown. There was a Meeting House and burial ground in Quaker Lane on the outskirts of Hightown from at least 1700. During the 18th century, the Crosland family of Oldfieldnook, near Scholes, played a leading role amongst local Friends. However worship eventually ceased in the area before 1800. Many decades later, in 1872, Quaker worship began to be held in the Victoria Institute in Hartshead Moor, near Scholes, under the care of Brighouse Preparative Meeting. The site for a Meeting House and burial ground was given by James Crosland in 1880 and opened three years' later. In 1884, Scholes acquired Preparative Meeting status. Despite a period of closure between 1961 and 1966, it is still in existence, as part of Brighouse Monthly Meeting.
From the guide to the Records of Scholes Preparative Meeting of the Society of Friends, 1874-1990, (GB 206 Leeds University Library)
