Uxbridge Quaker Meeting House

The Uxbridge Quaker Meeting House was built in 1817, with a subsequent extension added to the south in 1962, designed by Hubert Lidbetter. The building is constructed of stock brick in a Flemish bond pattern, with a slate roof.

The meeting house is rectangular in plan and includes a porch on the west side. It comprises two double-height meeting rooms on either side of a central lobby, which is accessed via a doorway on the main north front. A gabled porch is located on the west side, serving the smaller (originally women’s) meeting room. A lower extension, dating to 1962, is attached to the south.

The original building has a shallow hipped roof and three tall, round-headed windows with gauged brick arches and glazing bar sashes on the north elevation; two illuminate the main meeting room, and one the smaller room. A similarly detailed half-window is positioned above the main north entrance, which has double doors consisting of three flush-beaded panels set under a flat gauged brick arch. The west-facing porch has a hipped roof and double doors, also under a gauged brick arch, with five flush-beaded panels. This porch is flanked by windows matching those on the north side. The east elevation, which fronts the street, is plain and lacks windows. The 1962 extension on the south side has a shallow pitched roof.

The main entrance on the north front opens onto a lobby that originally featured shutters on both sides, which could be opened to create a single internal space. The shutters to the smaller meeting room were lost in a fire in 1988 and have not been replaced, resulting in a more modern character for that room. The main meeting room, however, remains largely intact, with its original shutters on the west side still operable via sash cords, allowing them to be raised into the roof space. It retains its perimeter, panelled dado with fixed seating, and on the east side, an elders’ stand, raised by three steps and featuring a panelled front. The stand is accessed by two short staircases, each with newels of late 18th or early 19th century style. The walls above the dado are plastered and painted, and there is a flat, lath and plaster ceiling. The original roof structure, consisting of sawn softwood and a king post, survives in the roof space. The 1962 extension to the south contains a kitchen, schoolroom, and WCs.