Burford Quaker Meeting House With Attached Burial Ground Wall

Burford Quaker Meeting House

This Quaker meeting house was built in 1709, possibly designed by Edward Strong (1652-1724). An attic room was added around 1730, and a single-storey extension was constructed in 1981, which is not included in the listing.

The building is constructed of coursed Cotswold stone rubble with a half-hipped Cotswold stone roof. It is located on the west side of Pytts Lane and consists of a gabled meeting hall of rectangular plan.

The main entrance faces north towards a small burial ground. The north elevation is symmetrical, with a central nail-studded door with strap hinges set in a heavy ashlar stop-chamfered surround. The entrance is flanked by tall twelve-over-twelve sash windows in rebated surrounds. The glazing bars are wide and ovolo-moulded, with square blocks at the intersections. The eastern gable end contains a later sash window serving the attic, with evidence of a blocked window immediately below. The south elevation is blank. The west elevation has an original nine-over-nine sash window in a rebated surround with thick glazing bars featuring square blocks at the internal intersections, serving the attic space, with a later sash window below it. The 1981 addition is a single-storey structure with a double-hipped roof and central valley containing skylights in the southern slope, built of complementary design and materials.

The interior measures approximately eight metres by seven metres. A loft gallery runs along the south and west sides, accessed by a two-flight stair at the north-west corner with a partially closed balustrade and ball finials to the newel posts. The gallery is supported on plain square posts with a plainly detailed open front, details assumed to be original though difficult to date. The ground floor has a boarded floor and high horizontal boarded stained pine dado with woodwork marks, rising higher on the east side where it formerly provided the back of a stand that was removed in 1947. A door at the west end connects to the WCs, kitchen and library/meeting space of the 1981 addition. A further stair at the south-west corner leads from the loft to the attic, dating from circa 1730 and similar in detail to the lower stair. The attic contains a substantial exposed collar purlin roof structure with timbers that appear to be reused, at least in part. The space is lit by sash windows at either end.

At the north-east corner, the building is adjoined by a tall ashlar gateway with stone capping and an iron gate with open transom bearing the date 1709. This gateway is reached via a flight of five stone steps with modern tubular steel handrails. A high rubble stone boundary wall with stone capping runs north along Pytts Lane from this point.