Wisbech Quaker Meeting House

Wisbech Quaker Meeting House

This quaker meeting house was built in 1854 to the design of Algernon Peckover. Alterations and additions were carried out between 1971 and 1973 to the design of Cecil J Bourne. The building is constructed of brick with stone dressings, with slate and artificial slate roof coverings.

The building is L-shaped in plan. The main meeting house is oriented south-west to north-east (simplified as west-east) and faces onto North Brink overlooking the River Nene. An extension extends to the rear on the western side, oriented north-west to south-east (simplified as north-south).

The meeting house stands behind railings carried on a dwarf wall to the street front. The 1854 building has a brick plinth and a shallow brick parapet with stone coping above a moulded stone cornice. The main south elevation is built of gault brick laid to Flemish bond and comprises four bays. From left to right these consist of the main entrance in a moulded stone surround with a corbelled hood, which has the inscription FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE in the overdoor; then three six-over-six sash windows with straight-headed openings in moulded surrounds, corbelled hoods similar to the entrance way, and stone sills carried on small corbels. These windows light the full-height main meeting room. The fourth eastern bay has a small door in a plain stone surround at ground floor level, providing access to the eastern end of the main meeting room. Above the main entrance is a stone plaque dated 1854 carved in relief. Three shallow dormers with casement windows are set in the south face of the mansard roof, aligned over the main meeting room windows below.

The east and west elevations are largely obscured by adjoining buildings. The western gable end of the mansard roof has a small window to the south side lighting an attic room. In the eastern gable end, the pitch of the former gable roof is visible in the brickwork forming the 1970s mansard roof.

The north-facing rear elevation of the 1854 meeting house comprises two bays with a casement window and French doors to the ground floor, and two casement windows to the first floor. Two dormer windows light attic rooms. The north-facing wall of the 1970s extension includes a casement window under a segmental arch to the western side of each of its three storeys. The irregularly-fenestrated east-facing wall of the extension includes, at ground floor, an entrance door and three casement windows (the two to the right under segmental arches), and two casement windows to the first and second floors (those to the right also under segmental arches). A small patio in front of the French doors includes a short flight of steps leading down into the garden. The rear walls are in red brick laid to stretcher bond.

The west-east oriented mansard roof to the meeting house includes a roof light to the north side. The north-south oriented gable roof to the extension includes a roof light to the west.

Internally, the double-leaf main entrance door opens into a narrow entrance hall. A staircase in the north-west corner of the hall provides access to the gallery above. The hall is divided from the main meeting room to the east by a panelled pine partition with centrally-placed double-leaf glazed doors flanked by Tuscan pilasters on the meeting room side. The panelling continues upwards to form the gallery front. A pine dado continues around the main meeting room as far as the Elders' Stand, which occupies the full extent of the east wall. The tiered Stand comprises two fixed benches with a panelled front and back, entered from the southern end. Pine benches are arranged around the main meeting room. The former small meeting room to the rear, lit by the garden French doors and a casement window, is also accessed from the hall.

Private accommodation over the meeting house is accessed via a lift in the entrance hall. The ground floor of the 1970s extension comprises a kitchen and cloakrooms, with private accommodation occupying the two upper floors.