FULNECK

This amazing settlement, located in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, is the inspiration behind Morava Gin.

Members of the Moravian Church settled at Fulneck in 1744.  They were descendants of old Bohemian/Czech Unity of the Brethren, extinct in Bohemia after 1620 due to forcible re-Catholicisation imposed on the Czech lands by Habsburg emperors.  These church members had found refuge in 1722 in Saxony on the estate of Nicolaus Ludwig Count von Zinzendorf. 

Fulneck Moravian Church and its associated settlement were established on the Fulneck estate, Pudsey, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, by Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, a Moravian Bishop and Lutheran priest, following a donation of land by the evangelical Anglican clergyman, Benjamin Ingham.

In the eighteenth century, the Moravian Church had settlements which were largely self-contained communities.  The settlements usually had a chapel, a Single Brethren's House, a Single Sisters’ House, a Widows’ House, schools and an inn. Single members would live, work and worship together in their communal Houses.  A settlement might have its own doctor, bakery, shop, farm, shoe makers, glove makers and carpenters.

The Moravians originally called Fulneck "Lamb’s Hill".  This name was used between 1744 and 1760 and from 1750 until 1763 the church building was known as Grace Hall.  After that the name Fulneck was adopted.

The settlement is now home to Fulneck School, founded in 1753, which forms a major part of the village, along with Fulneck Golf Club, which was founded in 1892 and is the oldest golf club in the Leeds area.

More information about this amazing settlement can be found by visiting the Moravian Museum, located on the settlement, which is open every Saturday and Wednesday, from 2pm to 4pm, during the months of April through to September.