ERO Presents: Feet Forward - Mary Farmer’s European Expedition 1725
Join speaker Julie Miller form this talk about Saffron Walden Quaker Mary Farmer.
Exactly three hundred years ago Saffron Walden Quaker Mary Farmer led a group of Essex women Quakers on a three-month journey of religious ministry from Essex to Friedrichstadt on the River Eider in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
They travelled by boat and on foot through Holland and the Low Countries visiting Quaker meetings as they went. As they travelled Mary Farmer wrote a journal recording all her adventures along the way.
Her journal tells us of how they met various people, were helped by supporters or suffered hardships such as sleeping in barns, enduring fierce storms and even got chased by pirates in the North Sea.
In her party were two women from Manningtree who were possibly one of the earliest recorded same sex partnerships in the Quaker community.
Event details
Explore Essex
Search our parks and places to plan your perfect day out
Need to know
Explorer Pass
Save money with your Explorer Pass
Our annual Explore Essex Pass will give you and your family the freedom to explore some of the incredible places and green spaces that Essex has to offer, as many times as you like throughout the year, with free parking at seven country parks, 2 or 1 on Sky Ropes, priority booking on specific events, and 10% discounts at many cafes and visitor centres.
Related events
Essex Record Office: Archive Explorers Club
Come along to our free stay and play session for parents, carers and under-fives for an opportunity to meet other parents, enjoy a hot drink, and look through a selection of historic records.
- Dates:
- July 16, 2026
- Venue: Essex Record Office
- Times: 10:00am - 12:00pm
- For under 5s
- Price: Free
ERO Presents Special: Growing Old and Facing Poverty in Eighteenth-Century Essex
Join speaker Dr. Susannah R. Ottaway for this talk about changing attitudes towards ageing and shifting methods of poor relief.
- Dates: July 16, 2026
- Venue: Essex Record Office
- Times: 6:30pm - 8:00pm
- For adults
- Price: £6.75
ERO Presents: The life and work of J.A. Baker (1926-1987)
Join speaker Dr Sarah Demelo for this talk about the life and work of J.A. Baker, the author of The Peregrine.
- Dates: July 28, 2026
- Venue: Essex Record Office
- Times: 10:30am - 12:00pm
- For adults
- Price: £6.75