Over the especially cold new year period, we put on our walking gear and enjoyed many local walks. One of my favourites was a circular walk around Yealand Conyers.
An ancient village, Yealand Conyers was central to the establishment of the dissenting Quaker movement in the mid seventeenth century. By 1692, when their Friends Meeting House was built in the village, almost everyone in the vicinity was a Quaker.
We started from the New Inn, an old inn usually serving good food and drink but currently closed for Covid. We climbed to Yealand Manor and then followed the path into the ancient woodlands that sit behind the estate.
The path opened into a small clearing before returning to the woods and a descent back into the village.
There are many old houses in Yealand Conyers and we passed two of the oldest, dating from 1666 and 1667.
After our gentle, quiet walk it’s hard to imagine that, 350 years ago, this sleepy village was at the cutting edge of a religious revolution.