| | by admin | | posted on 24th June 2025 in Quakers in 100 Objects | | views 131 | |
The Dove in Quaker Wood is a simple sculpture located in a Norfolk community woodland that carries a message of peace, hope and remembrance of the Quaker heritage of the land its in.
At the edge of Diss in south Norfolk lies Quaker Wood, a 5.5-acre community woodland lovingly created by volunteers of the Diss Community Woodland Project, on land gifted by the local Quaker Trust in 2008. What was once ancient meadowland has been transformed into native trees, wildflower meadows, and a pond-inviting people to connect with nature, community, and reflection.
As part of celebrating Quaker Wood’s tenth anniversary, volunteers and pupils from Roydon Primary School carved and installed a wooden dove-christened “Hope”-on the entrance gatepost. This modest statue, carved from native oak, was suggested by local Quakers as a symbol of peace to grace the woodland entrance and signal the spiritual connection between place, people, and witness.
The dove’s place at Quaker Wood makes a powerful statement: peace starts in everyday places where community gathers, trees grow, and life renews. It accompanies peace vigils held around International Peace Day and Remembrance Sunday, often with children adding messages of hope or reading aloud names of civilians affected by conflict. Its organic form and natural setting allow for gentle interaction-people pause, reflect, and remember in silence.
This woodland owes its very existence to Quaker values. It was purchased from the Diss Quaker Trust in 2008 and has been managed ever since by a volunteer group inspired by simplicity, peace, community, and stewardship. The land was gifted to the people of Diss by Quakers and Dick Seaman, the tenant, ensuring it remained a space for renewal and shared care rather than development.
Monthly working parties bring people together to plant trees, tend the pond, lay hedges, and manage habitat for wildlife. The open space and pond areas are used for school-led environmental education and group reflection. The dove sculpture stands as a focal point for these many local threads-faith, ecology, education, solidarity, and peace.
Like the woodland itself, Hope changes with the seasons. It weathers and blends into the landscape-reminding visitors that peace is not a final state but a living process, subject to time and care. Though humble in scale, the wooden dove at Quaker Wood holds real significance: it is a testament to Quaker witness in action, a signpost of hope, and a beacon for community rooted in care.
The image of the dove has long held special significance within the Quaker tradition. Drawn from the biblical story of Noah, where a dove returns to the ark with an olive leaf, it has come to symbolise the hope of peace after suffering, and the quiet promise of renewal. For Friends, who value silence, inward reflection, and spiritual presence, the dove’s quiet flight and gentle appearance make it a fitting emblem.
Quakers have used the dove symbol in many ways — on peace badges, banners at protests, and in art displayed at meeting houses. Most notably, the dove was added to the image Quaker Star to recognise Friends winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947. During the Cold War and in anti-nuclear movements, white doves often featured in leaflets and posters produced by the Friends Peace Committee and other Quaker groups. Sometimes shown carrying an olive branch or flying above a broken weapon, the dove stood in contrast to the violence of the world.
Yet for Friends, the dove is not only a symbol of peace between nations, but also of the inward peace that comes from spiritual practice. It reminds them of the still, small voice within, and of the hope that lives even in times of darkness. In meeting for worship, the spirit of peace is sought not through noise or argument, but through waiting together in silence - much like a dove quietly settling upon a branch.
In recent years, wooden doves and fabric doves have been created by Quaker artists and schoolchildren as part of peace education and interfaith events. At community projects like Quaker Wood in Diss, the presence of a carved dove is both a nod to this spiritual tradition and a welcome to all who seek peace, however they name it.
