Sixty Quakers gathered recently at the old Launceston prison where George Fox was imprisoned in 1656
Sixty Quakers and others gathered at the site of the old Launceston prison where George Fox was imprisoned in 1656 to witness the unveiling of a tablet last week.
The Cornish slate slab, the brainchild of Cornish historian Barry West, was presented to the Mayor of Launceston, Helen Bailey, on 7 July.
The tablet reads: “When the Lord sent me forth in the world, he forbade me to put off my hat to any, high or low."
These words, written by Fox in 1648, commemorate both his commitment to equality, and his imprisonment in Launceston for failing to remove his hat in court.
George Fox visited Cornwall in 1656 on his travels to spread the word about Quakerism and challenge the established church.
Arrested for having long hair, he was imprisoned in Launceston Castle. The charges being unproved, he was fined for not taking off his hat in court and sent back to the prison.
The prison was “a nasty stinking place," Fox later wrote. “There was no house of office in it, and the excrement of the prisoners…had not been carried out for many years."
Mayor Bailey is now seeking a fitting location for the tablet to be installed in the town.