Reading Quaker Meeting House

Reading Quaker Meeting House

A Quaker meeting house built in 1835. The original building is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond, with a pitched slate roof featuring coped gables on stepped brick kneelers. All four original chimney stacks have been removed. A single-storey extension was added in 1964 along the south (front) elevation, enclosing the forecourt to the east, and this was further extended in 1994. A small twentieth-century WC block stands against the east elevation. These later additions are not of special interest and are excluded from the listing. The later extensions are built of brown brick laid in stretcher bond.

The meeting house is positioned at the north end of a forecourt, with a rectangular plan aligned west to east.

The south elevation is now partly obscured by the 1964 extension. Above it, the tops of four windows in the meeting room are visible, featuring flat brick arches and what appear to be original sash frames. The two central windows are set higher, rising to just below the eaves, to accommodate the original frontage block which is now lost. The two chimneys formerly rising from the south side of the roof have been removed.

The north elevation remains unobstructed and has four tall windows with twelve-over-twelve sash frames. Memorial plaques for Quakers with ashes placed in the burial ground are affixed to the lower part of this wall.

The west elevation features a central entrance approached by two steps, with original panelled double doors set within a moulded doorcase topped by a shallow, console-bracketed hood. On either side are window openings blocked with burnt bricks in header bond. A circular opening with ventilation slats is located in the gable above. The east elevation has a similar circular opening and is otherwise blank.

The interior meeting room is centred on a three-centred arch which formerly held a counterweighted screen to divide the room or rise into the roof space above. Related machinery is understood to survive within the roof space, though it has not been inspected. A similar arch frames the stand at the east end of the room. The ceilings to either side of the central partition have cornices and circular ventilation openings with grilles. The south, east and west sides of the room have plain recessed dado panelling.

The stand features a balustrade with turned balusters in front of a fixed bench. In the northern corner of the stand is a flush door providing access to a ladder leading to the roof space.

Against the west wall stands another raised dais with curved partitions flanking the western entrance. This dais has no fixed benches but has later shelving fixed to the wall panelling. According to historical documentation, this western dais was altered from three steps to a single deeper platform.

In the south wall is a central entrance from the lobby, fitted with 1960s doors and flanked by two smaller door openings which formerly led to the women's and men's retiring rooms but are now blocked. To the east is a framed arched recess which once contained a cast-iron stove; there were originally two stoves in the south wall and two in the north wall. The lower portions of the outer windows in the south wall are blocked, probably dating from when the mid-nineteenth-century lobby was constructed.