CRICH PARISH
which consists of the villages of Crich, Fritchley and Whatstandwell.
Quaker burials at Toadhole Furnace
© "The Quakers of Fritchley" by Walter Lowndes (1986)
Pages 213 – 223

NAMES OF DECEASED MEMBERS AND ATTENDERS AND THEIR PLACE OF BURIAL OR CREMATION.
The Quakers, in the infancy of their Society were buried in their gardens or orchards, or in fields and premises of one another. They had, at that time, no grave-yards of their own, and they refused to be buried in those of the Church, lest they should acknowledge the validity of the human appointment of the priesthood, the propriety of payment for gospel labour and the peculiar holiness of consecrated ground. This refusal to be buried within the precincts of the Church was considered as the bearing of their testimony for Truth. In the process of time, they raised their meeting houses and burial grounds; sometimes these were at a distance from each other, such that, in later years, they chose to be buried in local cemeteries and, today, an increasing number choose to be cremated.

photo of toadhole furnace
The burial ground at Toadhole Furnace Meeting House, photographed 1980

Many Fritchley Quakers are buried in the burial ground attached to Toad Hole Furnace Meeting House which is about six miles from Fritchley. In 1897 the 'Derbyshire Archaeological Journal' said this of the Meeting House and burial ground.

QUAKER CEMETERY AT TOAD HOLE FURNACE.
This spot lies about midway between the Peacock Hotel and Hall Field Gate, and so snugly sequestred is it, that, unless pointed out, but few travellers would discover its situation, the meeting house being quite at one with an adjoining cottage and contiguous buildings. No memorials mark the humble grave mounds, and the Cemetery would not be recognised as such by a casual visitor. No register is kept, and a few loose certificates in custody of the chapel keeper are the only memoranda of the departed members interred in the little grass plot close by.

On the lintel of the meeting house door is engraven "Matthew Hopkinson, 1745". He is said to have been the owner of Ufton Fields in Oakerthorpe. The place is very cheerless within. There is an upper chamber for the female members. Meetings are held once a quarter.

From other records it appears that Toadhole Furnace was the last Meeting House to be added to those used by Chesterfield Quakers during this period . It appears that the land was purchased by Matthew Hopkinson of Shirland Park from Richard Kirkham in 1741. The building was completed and was handed over to Matthew Burgess of Grooby Lodge, Leicestershire (Matthew Hopkinson's son-in-Iaw),John Rodgers of Alfreton, Richard Rodgers of Alfreton, Jonathon Fletcher of Wessington, Joseph Fletcher of Wessington and William Draycote jr. of Southill in 1744 as trustees. The stone over the doorway was carved with the inscription 'Matthew Hopkinson 1745'. In answer to the Yearly Meeting Queries, the Quarterly Meeting replied in 1745 that a meeting house had been erected, but that no meeting had been settled. When Matthew Hopkinson was issuing instructions for his burial he requested 'that I may be taken to the toadole furnes, and be laid by the stairs that goes upon to the outter wall, as nere as can be and not lett them down'. His burial, in 1748, was the first recorded at the burial ground and is marked by a headstone at the foot of the stairs. Since then a number of families have used the burial ground , many of them from Fritchley
Meeting.

Since 1883, Fritchley Quakers have considered the possibility of having their own burial ground. Furnace was some distance away and was to them associated with the 'larger body' of Friends, the London Yearly Meeting. They raised this matter again in 1885, then in 1913, and finally in 1922, but no burial ground was acquired. Several Fritchley Quakers were buried in the burial ground adjacent to Bakewell Meeting House and others in local cemeteries. Only five cremations have been recorded.

From the Monthly Meeting records, the first Fritchley Quaker to be buried at Furnace was John Helmsley in 1880 and the last was Thomas Pye in 1956. In June 1959, Patricia Woore, a London Yearly Meeting Friend and wife of Alfred Woore was buried at Furnace. Although her husband was a member of Fritchley Meeting, she was only an infrequent attender at the Meeting. Between 1880 and 1959, forty members and attenders were buried at Furnace

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