ABSTRACT
The Quaker meeting house still stands off Burrows lane in Earls Colne as a testament to the endeavours of John Garrad and the friends trust. Some of the Quakers in Earls Colne did contribute to tithes and church rates, but they were less than happy to do so. The activities of Earls Colne Quakers may well reflect in microcosm the Quaker movement's increasingly national attempts during the first and second Protectorates at collective action and agitation regarding the perplexing issue of tithes. By 1659, the Quakers had mobilised a national campaign against tithes, driven by their ongoing frustration at the lack of political will to address the issue from the early 1650s onwards. The Non-conformists of seventeenth-century Earls Colne created their own permanent space in the landscape. An important issue to consider when attempting to re-populate the landscape is to what extent Quaker and other non-conformist networks determined access to subletting within the village.
