Ifield Quaker Meeting House

Quaker Meeting House built in 1676; kitchen and toilets were added in the C20.

MATERIALS: walls are of squared and tooled Sussex stone, roof of Horsham stone, brick chimneystack.

PLAN: oblong plan.

EXTERIOR: the meeting house has two storeys and the main elevation faces south-east. There are two half-hipped gables each to the south and north, with a brick chimneystack at the south-west. The Horsham stone appears to be laid in diminishing courses on the roof, a local vernacular tradition. A chamfered plinth runs around the base of the building. The south elevation has rusticated quoins to the corners and around the entrance. The lintel of the entrance door is inscribed ‘1676’, while some of the right-hand quoins have inscriptions thought to note the admission of new members: ‘16 HE 84’, ’16 AH 78’, and ’16 IK 76’. All windows have flat-arched heads. The leaded windows on either side of the entrance are of three-lights with timber transoms. Above them, in the gables, are small two-light leaded windows. Below the valley between the two gables is a lead hopper decorated with oak leaves. The side (north-east) elevation has two small high-level windows, leaded and of two-lights each. The rear (north-west) elevation is similar to the front with one large window. The off-centre rear entrance (with a divided, nail-studded door with a shelf) is now an internal door inside the lean-to brick extension of 1957.

INTERIOR: the interior is divided into two spaces by a timber screen of 1822 with sash shutters. The space formerly used for the women’s business meeting (now the library) is to the left (west), while the main meeting room is to the east. Both rooms have unpainted dado panelling, timber floors and fixed benches against the walls. The west room has a corner fireplace and a timber-framed west wall. The staircase is in the north-west corner.

A large chamfered post with ogee-braces in the meeting room supports the ceiling. The elders’ and ministers’ stand on a dais is against the north-east wall of the meeting room. The rear extension contains a kitchen and toilets and there are three attic rooms and a store room above converted to flats.