The Curiosities of Dudley and the Black Country, From 1800 to 1860 / Also an Account of the Trials and Sufferings of Dud Dudley, with His Mettallum Martis: Etc.

by C. F. G. Clark

THE FRIENDS’ MEETING HOUSE.

1845. This small place of worship is approached through a passage leading out of High Street. It was originally built in 1670, was enlarged in 1793, and has since had additional alterations. The Friends are a small and select body of worshippers in this town, and appear to have suffered severe and uncharitable persecution at times, for it is recorded that on the 2nd May, 1665, four Friends of Dudley were seized by one Major Wilde, and a troop of horsemen, and taken to Worcester Gaol, kept there thirteen days till the Assizes and Sessions were over, and then committed to the common jail for three months without any trial, or even being brought into open court. At the expiration of their time of imprisonment, these Friends were brought into open court and fined 12d. each, and then dismissed. The heinous crime with which they had been charged was, “that they would not take an oath.” Surely we live in happier days of freedom and enlightenment, which is not always duly appreciated by the censorious and narrow-minded citizens of the present age, both social and religious pressure being often exercised in the sacred name of civil and religious liberty.