Faringdon Quaker Meeting House

Quaker Meeting House. Built in 1672-1673, with later alterations.

MATERIALS: limestone rubble stone walls, brick quoins and dressings, stone tile roof coverings.

PLAN: the single-storey meeting house is rectangular on plan, with a hipped roof, and a small flat-roofed porch to the south-west.

EXTERIOR: standing opposite the Grade II-listed Duke of Wellington public house, the meeting house is situated in the Quaker burial ground, behind a high rubble-stone wall. It is oriented north-east to south-west, built in rubble stone with brick quoins and dressings. The steeply-pitched hipped roof has stone tile coverings.

The main (south-west) front comprises the flat-roofed entrance porch that incorporates a bead-moulded stone surround (that until 2014 had a double-leaf door). The former three bay main elevation to the north-west front now comprises, from right to left, two window openings just below the eaves with eight-over-eight wooden sash windows, and a slightly lower window opening, built-up in 1687, with brick surround and flat arch with a keystone. The stone infill to the former doorway can be seen below the window in the central bay.

The rear (north-east) elevation facing into the burial ground includes a small, centrally-placed window below the eaves. Two timber lintels set into this wall indicate former openings suggesting that this elevation may be derived from an earlier building on the plot. The south-east elevation includes one centrally-placed window opening with brick dressings for a further eight-over-eight sash window. The lintel of a door opening placed immediately to the left of that window interrupts the window opening’s brick dressings on that side.

INTERIOR: entered from the porch through a new (2014) double-leaf six-panel door with glazed square upper lights, the meeting room comprises a single space with a flat ceiling. The ceiling is supported by two off-centre beams and includes two hatches; the roof space is reported to include remnants of the former timber partition. The roof structure (not seen) is reported in the meeting house’s Quinquennial Inspection Report to include substantial oak trusses and triple purlins. The meeting room has a dado throughout. To the north-east wall the dado is ramped where the Elders’ stand formerly stood. The dado is also ramped either side of the main entrance and the windows. The floor is timber-boarded.