Rochester Quaker Meeting House, Rochester, Medway

Summary

Quaker meeting house. 1780-1781 with classroom and gallery of about 1812. Extension and alterations of 1990 to the design of Belcher and Clapson.

Description

Quaker meeting house. 1780-1781 with classroom and gallery of about 1812. Extension and alterations of 1990 to the design of Belcher and Clapson.

MATERIALS: red and purple bricks laid to Flemish bond, timber weather-boarding, clay tile roof coverings.

PLAN: the single-storey full-height C18 meeting house is rectangular on plan, oriented north-west/south-east with a small flat-roofed porch to the north-west front. To its north-east side the two-storey classroom and gallery extension of about 1812 is also rectangular on plan and similarly oriented, with a single-storey lean-to extension to its front. The single-storey extension of 1990 on the south-west side is also rectangular on plan, providing a small meeting room, kitchen and library. Each unit has a hipped tiled roof.

EXTERIOR: the meeting house stands to the south side of Northgate in the city’s historic centre just within the line of Rochester Town Wall. The main (north-west) elevation comprises, from left to right, the single-bay front of the early-C19 extension, then the main meeting house in three bays, and the single-bay front of the extension built in 1990. The front elevation of the early-C19 extension includes two small windows in the front wall of the ground-floor lean-to with a six-over-six sash window to the upper storey. The main meeting house’s front elevation includes a recently-built single-storey brick porch with a double-leaf entrance door to the central bay, above which is a four-over-eight sash window. The flanking bays have large twelve-over-twelve sash windows. All three window openings are straight-headed with flat gauged brick arches and stone sills. The brickwork is tuck-pointed. The 1990 extension includes a three-over-six sash window also in a straight-headed opening with a flat gauged brick arch, and a brick sill.

The south-west elevation is obscured by a brick wall enclosing the building and its front garden. The rear (south-east) elevation comprises, from left to right, a three-over-six sash window lighting the extension of 1990, then three four-over-eight sash windows under segmental arches in the upper level lighting the main meeting room, and a six-over-six sash window to each storey of the early-C19 extension. This elevation of the main meeting house has a high battered brick plinth with a broad rendered band above. The plinth continues, to an even higher level, to the south-west return, above which is a four-over-eight sash window. The brickwork is plainly pointed. The rear of the early-C19 extensions is rendered, and includes a brick stub wall projecting to the south at the south-east corner.

The north-east elevation facing Corporation Street is irregularly disposed. From left to right it comprises two nine-paned windows under segmental arches to the ground floor, then the lateral chimney stack, and a small six-paned window under a segmental arch. One nine-paned window also under a segmental arch to the left of the chimney stack lights the upper storey, whilst the wall of the upper storey to the right of the chimney stack is clad in timber weatherboarding.

The early-C19 extension is slightly taller than the C18 main meeting house, which itself is taller than its single-storey late-C20 extension. The main meeting house has a timber cornice with dentils. All three principal roofs are hipped and covered in clay tiles.

INTERIOR: the front entrance porch leads into a lobby area which occupies the full width of the main meeting house. Doors to right and left lead into the 1990 extension and the former classroom of the early-C19 extension respectively. The lobby is divided from the main meeting room by a wall inserted perhaps during the works completed in 1990; two modern doors lead into the full-height main meeting room.

The main meeting room is plainly plastered and painted. A raised platform extends around three sides of the interior, supporting fixed benches that are incorporated into a dado of plain horizontal pine panelling. The panelling is raised up on the south-east wall, which is divided into three bays by two full-height pilasters. The north-east wall includes built-up openings to the ground- and first-floor where formerly shuttered openings enabled communication between the main meeting room and the early-C19 extension. A door opening in this wall leads into the ground floor of the early-C19 extension. A staircase in the extension’s north-east corner gives access from the ground-floor facilities to the former gallery above.

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 travelling 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. Ancillary buildings erected in addition to a meeting house could include stabling and covered spaces such as a gig house; caretaker’s accommodation; or a school room or adult school.

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.

A plot of ground on Pump Lane (now called Northgate), Rochester, was bought in 1675 at a cost of £31 to provide a Quaker burial ground. The plot was to the south of the probable location of the North Gate, where a Roman road entered the town, and just inside the line of the Town Wall to the east. The first meeting house was built there in 1676. Its replacement, built to one end of the burial ground at a cost of £445 19s 6d, was erected in 1780-1781. Material from the C17 building may have been incorporated into the new meeting house. In about 1812 a two-storey extension was added to the north-east side of the meeting house, providing a ground-floor classroom with a gallery above. Shutters to both floors opened into the main meeting room.

Buildings adjoining the north-east elevation of the meeting house had been demolished before the Second World War, whilst a structure to the south-east corner (which may have left the roof line scar visible to the meeting house’s rear wall) was described as a ‘ruin’ by the Ordnance Survey in 1955. Structural problems were identified in 1986. Underpinning and partial rebuilding were required after the meeting house’s footings were shown to be built over Roman and medieval rubbish pits. These works, including interior alterations and the addition of an extension to the south-west, were completed in 1990 to designs by Belcher and Clapson. Other alterations include the insertion of two windows in the main meeting house rear elevation, and the removal of a ventilator or louvre from the apex of the main meeting house roof.

Reasons for Listing

Rochester Quaker Meeting House, situated on Northgate, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the understated domestic Georgian design of the meeting house reflects Quaker preferences for restrained architecture;
* the plan-form and features including the built-up former shuttered openings provide evidence for the division of space, including education facilities, typical for earlier Quaker meeting houses.

Historic interest:

* as a purpose-built C18 Quaker meeting house on the site of the C17 former Quaker burial ground, its early-C19 extension including a former gallery and classroom providing evidence of the development of the meeting house type.

Group value:

* with numerous designated heritage assets including Hayward House (Grade II), the Grade I-listed Public Library (former Corn Exchange) and Corn Exchange, buildings listed at Grade II and Grade II* fronting High Street, and scheduled sections of the Town Wall.

External Links

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