The Friends Meeting House

A Quaker meeting house built circa 1710, constructed from painted cob on stone rubble footings with a steep wheat reed thatched roof. The roof is half-hipped to the left and west, sweeping lower to the right over a later linhay. The building was originally designed as a single rectangular room open to the roof, with a galleried loft inserted in 1717.

The south front is symmetrical with three windows, plus an open-fronted linhay to the right. A central shallow open porch now contains a 2-light window in what was the original doorway position. The original windows are leaded and latticed within oak frames featuring oak mullions with ogee internal mouldings. The three-light windows on left and right remain in situ, while the original frame of the central window survives high up in the east wall, now within the linhay. All opening lights are hung on pin-tail hinges with wooden saddle bars holding original lead cames and crown glass, some of the intermediate bars set diagonally. Old wood shutters remain. Ovolo-moulded oak lintels with ogee tongue stops span the doorway, porch, and windows—features of somewhat archaic design that may be reused material salvaged to reduce costs. Another old leaded window of three lights with rectangular panes is located high up in the west wall towards the front. Buttresses were added later to the far left and to the right of the right-hand window.

A circa mid-19th-century linhay was added, at which time the east end window was relocated to the original doorway position and a new doorway cut into the west end. A weatherboarded lean-to porch was added to the west and subsequently demolished, replaced by a thatch-roofed concrete structure in 1967.

The interior is almost intact with many original fittings. The exposed roof structure features pegged apices and lapped collars, with the loft gallery and all fittings constructed from unpainted and unstained pine. A staircase of two short flights in the north-west corner replaced the original 1717 stair that ran along the north wall, rising to a two-panel door with wide stiles and rails—also archaic and possibly renewed. The gallery front is supported on two pine posts, with the gallery floor carried on planed pine beams with simple side mouldings. The ministers' gallery at the east end is complete, formed as a wall settle approached by two wooden steps on either side, with shaped ends and a full-width lectern in front. This is flanked by wall settles at a lower level returning along the north and south walls, complete with original armrests. A further built-in seat lies to the south of the doorway at the west end. Some possibly original loose benches survive, fitted with later backs; later benches and all constructional features are very simple, exemplifying Quaker movement principles. The west door is of plank construction, hinged in the middle to fold back against the west wall when open.

The linhay is of very primitive construction using un-hewn timber. A mounting block survives to the south-east.

The meeting house was built in 1710 using funds raised from Quaker subscribers in 1707 and 1710. Research indicates that the farm, including the land on which the meeting house stands, was owned by James Mayo, a Quaker, and was later leased to Vyvian, whose name with the date 1716 is scratched on one of the window panes at the farmhouse. Despite the 20th-century porch on the west end, the meeting house has been remarkably unaltered since the 19th century and retains much of its original character and fabric.