Building record 1160/254 - Quaker Meeting House, Friends Meeting House

Meeting house opened in 1830 with attached burial ground

{1} Early C19, traditional Georgian design. Red stretchers, grey headers, ovolo cornice, Welsh slated hipped roof. Single storey left part of north front has 2 tall sash windows in reveals under stucco flat arches. 2 storey left part of front has 3 modern casement windows with glazing bars under flat arches. Central closed porch with entablature broken forward over Roman Doric columns.

{2} Early C19th traditional Georgian design with slate hipped roof.

{3} At its opening in October 1830, the building was described as, 'an elegant plain edifice and so constructed as to be made perfectly comfortable by steam...during the severity of the winter season... About 600 persons can be conveniently accommodated'. It seems likely that the building originally contained only two full-height meeting rooms divided by timber screens, but by the 1880s the western meeting room had been subdivided. In 1962 the timber screens were replaced by a solid wall. In 1966 a floor was inserted over half of the western or women's end and the fenestration on the north and west sides of the building was altered to reflect the internal change. Further internal alterations were made to this part of the building in 1988. In 2012 the burial ground was re-landscaped with the help of a legacy.

Report includes plans of the building in 1830, 1885 and 1966

{4} Two photos dated 1990.

{5} There is a monument to John Hunt, the sculptor, who died in 1754.

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 2/158 (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> 1976, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), H14 p.135 (checked) (Catalogue). SNN1000.

<3> Burton, N, 2016, Friends Meeting House, Northampton: Building Survey, 2016 (Report). SNN110639.

<4> Photographs of buildings in Northampton (Photographs). SNN114989.

<5> Bailey, B, Pevsner, N, and Cherry, B, 2013, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p. 441 (Book). SNN111989.

Record last edited

Mar 4 2025 3:34PM