Sibford Quaker Meeting House

The building is a Quaker meeting house, constructed in 1864 by Thomas Manning to replace an earlier 17th-century building. Minor external additions and interior alterations were made in 1891, with a modernisation of the kitchen and WCs by Paul Richardson in 2008.

The meeting house is built from rough-cast Horton limestone walling with darker-coloured ashlar stone dressings, and has Welsh slate roofs. It follows a single-storey T-plan layout, featuring a north-south block housing the meeting room and lobby, alongside lower east-west ranges containing a children’s room to the west and a kitchen to the east, each with rear outshuts.

The exterior is designed within a vernacular Georgian tradition. The symmetrical south (front) elevation has a centrally projecting gabled entrance with a date stone above the doorway, flanked by two 12-pane timber sash windows. Lower doorways are present on either side of the central gable. The ashlar dressings to all openings include quoins and dropped keystones to the lintels. The west and east elevations of the meeting room each have three 16-pane timber sash windows with a doorway to the west. The rear outshuts also incorporate a sixteen-pane timber sash window and a cat slide roof. A memorial plaque is located under the west window of the west wing, commemorating those whose ashes are in the adjacent burial ground. The northern gabled wall of the meeting room has a single 16-pane timber sash window with a stone head, keystone, and sill (lacking the quoins seen in other window detailing).

The interior features an entrance lobby at the south, providing access to the meeting room, children’s room, and kitchen. The full-height lobby has plain plastered walls, lit by two south-facing sash windows set in deep, chamfered openings. Two internal six-pane timber sash windows are located high on the north wall, beside the entrance to the meeting room. Original four-panel doors, architraves, and skirting are also present. The floor is laid with red and black quarry tiles, complemented by original coat hooks on the east wall.

The large, rectangular meeting room has seen little alteration since the late 19th century. The plain plastered walls incorporate pine dado panelling, with a raised elders' stand and seating at the north end, and an additional row of fixed panelled seating in front. Windows are set within deeply recessed chamfered openings. The flooring consists of exposed timber boards, laid north to south. Fitted wall benches at the south end of the room likely form part of the women’s meeting room before the space was opened up.

The school room mirrors the meeting room with deep chamfered window and door openings, and connects to a WC in the rear outshut, which has modern fittings and tiling. The kitchen retains its original door architraves and features an internal four-pane window, looking through to the outshut.