Huntingdon Quaker Meeting House, Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire

Summary

Quaker Meeting House comprising a late C18 building fronting the street and behind it an earlier, possibly C17, rear block, and the rear part of the wing, possibly of C19 date. Along the north side of the rear wing is a 1972 extension.

Description

MATERIALS: the late C18 building is of brick with a tiled hipped mansard roof with brick stacks at either end. The C17 block has a brick base with rendered timber-framing above, a steeply pitched roof of corrugated iron over thatch and a central brick chimneystack. The C19 end block is brick with a tiled pitched roof.

PLAN: rectangular plan with the late C18 building to the south-west, a rear wing and a C20 narrow extension. Two storeys with cellars.

EXTERIOR: the late C18 building: the street elevation faces south-west and has three bays with a modern entrance door in the centre, flanked by two eight-over-eight sash windows. On the upper floor are two nine-pane dormer windows. The south corner is chamfered. The north-west side elevation has a modern side door, a casement window at first-floor level and a window to the raised basement or cellar.

The C17 block: the south-east elevation has four small-paned windows to the ground floor and one casement window to the first floor.

The possible C19 end block has two three-light mullion and transom windows to the south and two square gable windows to the east. The 1972 extension is narrow with a flat roof and contains an entrance area which was added to the courtyard-facing side.

INTERIOR: the late C18 building to the south-west has been converted into flats.

The C17 block: the ground floor of this part of the building contains two low-ceiled rooms, one of which has a large fireplace, the other is now the kitchen, both with chamfered beams, as well as a small cellar room only a few steps below ground level. Above are a small first-floor room to the west and an attic on the east side of the central stack; the latter has lath-and-plaster walls and ceiling.

The possible C19 end block: internally this is open to the king-post roof and has a timber-panelled ceiling. To the north, the former external wall has been removed and the room extends into the 1972 entrance block which contains the toilets.

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 (1924-1927) 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.

In 1672, the Huntingdon meeting acquired a burial ground on which they built a meeting house in around 1685. The meeting lapsed in 1860 and was only used for meetings again in the early C20 until it was demolished in 1931.

In 1968-1969, the Rose and Crown public house in Godmanchester was bought for £3200. It comprised a late C18 building fronting the street and behind it an earlier, possibly C17, rear building as well as a further C19 rear wing. The easternmost end of the wing was remodelled as a meeting room and the C17 block became the kitchen with the front part converted into flats. A new entrance area with toilets was added in the courtyard-facing side of the L-shaped building. The meeting house was formally opened in September 1972.

In 2000, internal alterations were made to the toilets. The front part of the building (number 48) is rented out, while the meeting uses the ground floor of the C17 rear block and the 1972 meeting room (which together form number 48A).

Reasons for Listing

Huntingdon Quaker Meeting House, a former public house of C17 – C19 date with a C20 extension, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* its late C18 street elevation with distinctive mansard roof provides an impressive town-centre building.

Historic interest:

* as a former public house which has been converted for residential and meeting house use, its historic development is readable in the building fabric and illustrates how the building has evolved to accommodate changes.

Group value:

* with Grade II-listed buildings along Post Street.

External Links

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