Garstang Quaker Meeting House

Garstang Quaker Meeting House

This Quaker Meeting House was built in 1828–1829. It underwent extension and internal alterations in 2016, designed by FWP Group.

The building is constructed of coursed dressed sandstone and rubble-stone walls with slate roof coverings. It follows a linear plan, with the single-storey meeting house, rectangular in plan, positioned to the west, linked to a range comprising a stable and coach-house, rectangular in plan, to the east.

The meeting house sits within the Quaker burial ground, accessed from Calder House Lane, and is oriented south-west to north-east. It is built as a single storey beneath a gabled roof, with a low chimney stack to the east gable, a south porch, and a small north extension. A 2016 single-storey extension to the east now links the original meeting house to the stable-block of about 1900. The south and west elevations of the meeting house are built in watershot sandstone blocks, whilst the other elevations are in squared rubble masonry. The gabled roofs are covered in slate.

The main south elevation comprises four bays. From left to right, there are two two-light sash windows in plain openings with stone lintels, followed by the south porch, and then a smaller two-light sash window to the right. The porch has a curved front and is entered through a new glass double-leaf door set in a plain stone architrave with a basket-handle arch. The west elevation is blind. The north elevation includes a small brick-built extension positioned approximately opposite the south porch. A casement window above the extension lights the meeting house gallery, whilst another to the left lights the former women's business room on the ground floor. The former east elevation is now largely obscured by the stone-built 2016 extension, which comprises a full-height fixed window of six lights curving to join the south wall of the stable block. This extension has a curved shed roof covered in slate.

The stable south front has two windows and a plain plank door. The two-bay coach house to its right is open-fronted with a single column to the front. The east and north walls of this range are blind.

Internally, the meeting house porch contains possibly original ironwork hat pegs and gives access to a pair of doors. The left door opens into the main meeting room, whilst the right door opens into the former women's business room, now an activity space. From the meeting room door, a short passageway runs beneath the gallery. The passageway is defined to the left by a partition that is fully panelled to the north and glazed to the south, continuing upward to form the panelled front to the gallery. A central opening leads into the main meeting room. At the north end of the passageway, a stair with stick balusters and a moulded handrail ascends to the gallery, which includes three tiers of seating.

The main meeting room features a panelled dado, ramped up at the west end to the Elders' stand. This stand extends across the full length of the west wall and includes two fixed benches. The panelled front to the rear bench forms the back to the front bench and includes a moulded handrail carried on turned balusters. The stand is accessed by short flights of steps at each end. The former women's business room, lit by small windows to north and south, has rectangular openings with shutters on its west wall. Hooks to secure the shutters open remain in the ceiling.

A door in the north wall of the former women's business room leads into the small northern extension. New openings in the east wall lead into the library and kitchen facilities provided by the 2016 extension. The now-attached stable includes five stalls, whilst the coach-house provides an open-fronted space.