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.