The charges against them were not proved but they were fined for not taking their hats off in court and were sent back to Launceston Prison until they paid their fine; something Fox was not inclined to do as it was unjust. They were then thrown into ‘Doomsdale.’ Fox describes it well in his Journal. ‘A nasty, stinking place, where they used to put murderers after they were condemned. The place was so noisome that it was observed few that went in did ever come out again in health. There was no house of office in it; and the excrement of the prisoners that from time to time had been put there had not been carried out (as we were told) for many years. So that it was all like mire, and in some places to the tops of the shoes in water and urine; and he would not let us cleanse it, nor suffer us to have beds or straw to lie on.
From what I have learnt about women who were believed to have had spiritual powers or to have been suspected of witchcraft, they were often subjected to horrific cruelty and incarceration, hence the lady in the foreground.
In a letter written by George Fox, he writes; "What the light doth make manifest and discover, as temptation, distractions, confusions; do not look at these temptations, confusions, corruptions, but at the light which discovers them and makes them manifest; and with the same light you may feel over them, to receive power to stand against them. The same light which lets you see sin and transgression, which gives victory and dominion over it, and brings one into covenant with God."
I think this drawing of George Fox is more or less complete. I have been an admirer of the Quaker movement for many years and it is the first time I have tried to do research about one of its main founders. On several occasions George Fox had visited a dwelling known as Halbathic, just outside the town I live in called Liskeard. Halbathic is a Post Medieval Longhouse with records dating back to 1328. It is the earliest surviving building in Cornwall that was used as a Nonconformist meeting house, adapted as a Quaker meeting house from 1655 to 1688 and owned by Yoeman Thomas Mounce.
A quote from John Allen's book 'The History Of The Borough Of Liskeard', "George Fox commenced his gospel ministry during the revolutionary contentions, declaring against all resort to arms, all stipendiary ministry, the use of any oaths, and of any typical observances under the gospel dispensation. On his first visit to Cornwall, in 1655, his preaching made a deep impression, and he obtained many adherents in the neighbourhood of Liskeard. His first meeting was at the house of Edward Hancock in Menheniot, where he mentions that he met Thomas Mounce of Liskeard parish, and many others. A few weeks after, he was with two others committed to Launceston gaol, for distributing an ernest but harmless religious paper, near Land's End. He was confined to prison for eight months, during which period he was visited by many people who sympathized with him and embraced his views. At the assizes he defended himself with remarkable shrewdness, exposing the fallacy of the pretended charges of rebellion brought against him; which consequently fell to the ground. Seven years later, he came into Cornwall again, and held meetings without molestation; a large one was at Thomas Mounce's, and another at Stoke Climsland; after which he proceeded over Horse Bridge into Devonshire. On two subsequent occasions he seems to have visited the neighbourhood. Thomas Mounce was the proprietor of an estate at Halbathic, and one of the first who united with George Fox; and regular meetings of the new society being soon established, he later gave the Friends a small piece of his land for a burial ground and meeting house. The ground was enclosed and the house erected in 1688-9. Members gave their labour, and subscriptions amounting to £134 were chiefly raised through the efforts of Elizabeth Whitford of Liskeard- a generous and public spirited woman. From the time of George Fox, the Society of Friends have maintained their religious meetings; first in the town, and then for upwards of a century at Halbathick, till the new meeting house was built in the town in 1796. This was enlarged in 1826.
