Warwick Quaker Meeting House, Warwick, Warwickshire

Summary

Quaker Meeting House, built 1695, extended in the C18, and in 1992 by Donald James & Partners.

Description

Quaker Meeting House, built 1695, extended in the C18, and in 1992 by Donald James & Partners.

MATERIALS: red brick, stone, clay tile roofs.

PLAN: the meeting house was built in three phases, forming an L-shape overall: the 1695 meeting room is rectangular in plan running north-west to south-east; the C18 cottage attached to the north-west end of the meeting room is rectangular in plan, two rooms deep, with the front at a slightly-offset angle; and the 1992 extension comprises two irregularly-shaped compartments.

EXTERIOR: the 1695 meeting room is two-storey, constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond, with stone quoins, and on a stone plinth. The pitched roof is covered in clay tiles. The principal elevation is to the south-west, adjoining the rear of the C18 cottage. On this elevation the red-brick cottage is of three bays, with three 12-pane sash windows with segmental relieving-arches at ground level, and a small two-light leaded window and two gabled dormers with small sashes to first floor. There is a blocked doorway to the far left. The entrance to the adjacent meeting room is via a pair of six-panel timber doors with H-L hinges, with a flat timber canopy on brackets above. To the right are two tall mullion and transom timber casements with leaded lights to the meeting room, and smaller rectangular leaded lights to the gallery. The south-east gable has a central glazed door (the original entrance) with a mullion and transom window with two brick relieving-arches above. The north-east elevation is blind. Additionally, there is a semi-circular stone well attached to the south-west elevation. The north-west elevation faces onto Hill Street, and comprises the principal elevations of the C18 cottage and extension, both of which are two-storeys with an attic. The entrance is reached by four stone steps with wrought-iron handrails, and the door is panelled and glazed with a plain canopy on brackets above. There is a 16-pane sash window at ground floor with two 12-pane sashes above and a dormer.

The 1992 extension is built of modern red brick, with brick corbelled eaves brackets, and three C20 12-pane sash windows at ground and first floor. To the left (east) there is a lower section of the building with a dormer window. To the right (west) is a red-brick archway with stone dressings inscribed in painted letters FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE. This leads to a passage, providing access into the 1992 extension on the west, with two C20 sash windows above. At the rear the extension has twin gables and C20 12-pane sash windows.

INTERIOR: the meeting room entrance leads into an internal porch with C20 woodwork and glazed double doors, and then to the rear of the meeting room below the C18 gallery. The gallery has a substantial boxed-bressumer, framed and panelled front and boarded floor. The gallery stairs are in the north corner and are C20 in date. The walls are lined with framed panelling, plastered and painted above. On the south-west wall is a C18 fireplace with a timber, bolection moulded surround (there is no external stack). The main body of the meeting room is three-bay, with two roof trusses partially-obscured by the ceiling, connected by C18 braces with ogee stops. The floor is parquet. On the north-west wall of the meeting room is a segmental arch doorway with C20 doors, leading into the C18 cottage. The rear room has clasped, crossed and chamfered ceiling beams with ogee stops. The cottage now houses a common room and library and most doors and other fixtures date to 1972. All fixtures inside the 1992 extension (now a community café with offices above) are of that date.

History

The Quaker movement emerged out of a period of religious and political turmoil in the mid-C17. Its main protagonist, George Fox, openly rejected traditional religious doctrine, instead promoting the theory that all people could have a direct relationship with God, without dependence on sermonising ministers, nor the necessity of consecrated places of worship. Fox, originally from Leicestershire, claimed the Holy Spirit was within each person, and from 1647 travelled the country as an itinerant preacher. 1652 was pivotal in his campaign; after a vision on Pendle Hill, Lancashire, Fox was moved to visit Firbank Fell, Cumbria, where he delivered a rousing, three-hour speech to an assembly of 1000 people, and recruited numerous converts. The Quakers, formally named the Religious Society of Friends, was thus established.

Fox asserted that no one place was holier than another, and in their early days, the new congregations often met for silent worship at outdoor locations; the use of members’ houses, barns, and other secular premises followed. Persecution of Nonconformists proliferated in the period, with Quakers suffering disproportionately. The Quaker Act of 1662, and the Conventicle Act of 1664, forbade their meetings, though they continued in defiance, and a number of meeting houses date from this early period. Broad Campden, Gloucestershire, came into Quaker use in 1663 and is the earliest meeting house in Britain, although it was out of use from 1871 to 1961. The meeting house at Hertford, 1670, is the oldest to be purpose built. The Act of Toleration, passed in 1689, was one of several steps towards freedom of worship outside the established church, and thereafter meeting houses began to make their mark on the landscape.

Quaker meeting houses are generally characterised by simplicity of design, both externally and internally, reflecting the form of worship they were designed to accommodate. The earliest purpose-built meeting houses were built by local craftsmen following regional traditions and were on a domestic scale, frequently resembling vernacular houses; at the same time, a number of older buildings were converted to Quaker use. From the first, most meeting houses shared certain characteristics, containing a well-lit meeting hall with a simple arrangement of seating. In time a raised stand became common behind the bench for the Elders, so that traveling ministers could be better heard. Where possible, a meeting house would provide separate accommodation for the women’s business meetings, and early meeting houses may retain a timber screen, allowing the separation (and combination) of spaces for business and worship. In general, the meeting house will have little or no decoration or enrichment, with joinery frequently left unpainted.

Throughout the C18 and early C19 many new meeting houses were built, or earlier buildings remodelled, with ‘polite’, Classically-informed designs appearing, reflecting architectural trends more widely. However, the buildings were generally of modest size and with minimal ornament, although examples in urban settings tended to be more architecturally ambitious. After 1800, it became more common for meeting houses to be designed by an architect or surveyor. The Victorian and Edwardian periods saw greater stylistic eclecticism, though the Gothic Revival associated with the Established Church was not embraced; on the other hand, Arts and Crafts principles had much in common with those of the Quakers, and a number of meeting houses show the influence of that movement.

The C20 saw changes in the way meeting houses were used which influenced their design and layout. In 1896 it was decided to unite men’s and women’s business, so separate rooms were no longer needed, whilst from the mid-1920s ministers were not recorded, and consequently stands were rarely provided in new buildings. Seating was therefore rearranged without reference to the stand, with moveable chairs set in concentric circles becoming the norm in smaller meeting houses. By the interwar years, there was a shift towards more flexible internal planning, together with the provision of additional rooms for purposes other than worship, reflecting the meeting house’s community role – the need for greater contact with other Christians and a more active contribution within the wider world had been an increasing concern since the 1890s. Traditional styles continued to be favoured, from grander Classical buildings in urban centres to local examples in domestic neo-Georgian. The work of the prolific Hubert Lidbetter, longtime Surveyor to the Six Weeks Meeting, demonstrates a range from the solid Classicism of Friends House, London (1924-27) to the more contemporary style of the Sheffield meeting house of 1964 (now in alternative use). In the post-war period, a small number of Quaker buildings in more emphatically modern styles were built; examples include the meeting house at Heswall, Merseyside, 1963 by Beech and Thomas, and buildings by Trevor Dannatt, of which the Blackheath Quaker Meeting House is one.

The beginnings of Quakerism in Warwick coincided with George Fox’s visits in 1655 and 1656. By 1671, a piece of land had been purchased on High Pavement (High Street) for a Quaker burial ground. A dwelling on the site was used as a meeting house until it was destroyed in the Great Fire of Warwick in 1694. The present meeting house was built on the same site in 1695 at a cost of £116. The entrance door was central on the south-west elevation with the stand opposite. Internal changes had taken place by 1710 including the removal of the elders’ stand. At an unknown date, possibly the late C18, a gallery was built and a fireplace added. The entrance into the meeting house at this time was to the south-east. In the C18 a cottage was built adjoining the north-west elevation of the meeting house. In the late C19 the entrance had an external porch.

Following a decline in membership numbers the meeting house closed in 1909 for 40 years, opening again in 1949. During the 1950s it was restored with repairs to the windows, woodwork and walls. By 1972 additional space was required by the Friends, and a children's room and kitchen were created in the C18 cottage at a cost of £3,000. In 1992, at a cost of £130,000 a three-storey building was built to the designs of Donald James & Partners to the west, to provide additional ancillary facilities at ground level and office accommodation above.

Reasons for Listing

Warwick Quaker Meeting House built in 1695 and extended in the C18 and 1992, is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an early purpose-built C17 Quaker meeting house typifying the modest nature of these buildings for worship;
* the meeting room’s interior retains its early layout and dado panelling, and C18 gallery and fireplace.

Historic interest:

* as an illustration of the prominent role played by the Religious Society of Friends in the development of Warwick;
* the 1992 extension respects the character of the C18 cottage and is representative of the growing need of Quakerism in Warwick into the C20.

Group value:

* with the many listed buildings on High Street, including the Grade I-listed 56 High Street and Hospital of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester.

External Links

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