North Walsham Quaker Meeting House

The North Walsham Quaker Meeting House, dating from 1772 and restored in 1984 under the direction of architect Christopher Codling, is constructed of red brick in a Flemish bond pattern, with pantile roof coverings. It stands back from Mundesley Road in a rural area, approximately 160 metres north of the Quaker burial ground.

The meeting house is square in plan with a hipped roof, and features a single-storey rectangular extension to the east under a gable roof. The exterior is characterised by a low brick plinth and brick cornice, along with a hipped roof covered in black pantiles. The south elevation, with three bays, has a centrally positioned entrance framed by a moulded timber surround and a shallow hood. Flanking the entrance are six-over-six sash windows. The upper level of the south elevation contains three three-over-three sash windows, which illuminate a gallery; these also feature projecting sills and flush frames. Similar three-over-three sash windows are found in the upper levels of the west and east elevations, while the north elevation is largely blank. A date stone displaying "1772" is positioned high on the north elevation.

The east-facing extension provides kitchen and cloakroom facilities and has entrances and small windows on its north and south elevations, and a small window on the east. Its west-east oriented gable roof, with red and black pantiles, includes a catslide on the north side, extending almost to the meeting house’s north wall.

The double-leaf entrance door on the south side opens into a lobby spanning the full width of the building. Quarter-turn staircases at either end of the lobby provide access to the gallery above. The lobby is separated from the main meeting room by panelled backs to fixed benches, arranged on either side of a central walkway. Two Tuscan columns support the gallery. The gallery front is of plain panelling with a handrail on short turned balusters, further supported by two columns and culminating in a flat plaster ceiling. A central partition divides the gallery into western and eastern sections.

The main meeting room features vertical plank panelling with a chair rail or dado. A doorway in the east wall leads into the eastern extension’s kitchen and cloakrooms. The north wall's panelling is higher behind the Elders’ Stand, which consists of two ranks of raked, fixed benches along the entire north wall, with entrances on either side of the central benches. The ceiling incorporates a moulded cornice, and all the timberwork is painted.