Lewes Quaker Meeting House

Lewes Quaker Meeting House

The meeting house was built in 1784 on a site that had been a Quaker burial ground since 1697. It has been extended three times, in 1801, 1860 and 1977–8, resulting in a long linear building. One porch was added in 1812 and another in 1977–8.

Materials and Construction

The building is constructed principally of brick, apart from the original meeting house and the 1801 cottage, which are timber-framed on a brick base and mathematically tiled.

Plan and Setting

The building forms a long oblong with two porches to the front and toilet extensions to the rear.

Exterior

The front elevation of the original meeting house of 1784 features a brick base of red bricks and burnt headers laid in Flemish bond. The south gable is tile-hung, as is the rear elevation. The pitched roof is covered with slate to the front and hand-made tiles to the back. The main elevation faces south-east with a chimney stack at the south. The base between the two three-centred windows to the meeting room (eight-over-eight sashes) shows evidence of an earlier or intended doorway. The windows of the meeting room and the 1801 cottage have glazed black dressings; the same material is used for quoins. The cottage has one eight-over-eight sash window each to the ground and first floor; the lower was converted from an original door opening. The rear elevation of the meeting room is lit by two high-level four-over-four sashes under three-centred arches.

The large porch of 1812 is constructed of red brick with burnt headers laid in Flemish bond. Four pilasters support the entablature and pediment, which bears the inscriptions 'Friends Meeting House' and '1784'. The porch has small lateral windows.

The 1860 cottage is rendered. It has two two-over-two sashes on both floors with an additional small first-floor window over the flat-roofed porch of 1977–8. The elevation of the 1977–8 extension, built of brick in stretcher bond, is similarly fenestrated, with rubbed and gauged flat heads to the ground-floor windows. The north elevation has a double-leaf door and a two-over-two sash window to the ground floor, with two two-over-two sash windows above. All three windows have lintels of soldier courses. The south elevation has one window on each level beside the stack. The rear elevation has a small first-floor window to the 1970s building and two three-light casements to the 1860 cottage, as well as a small ground-floor window.

Interior

The main porch of 1812 leads to the doors into the meeting room, set beside a disused panelled timber door. The meeting room has dado panelling of pine. The windows have plain architraves. There is a decorative ventilation grille in the ceiling. At the north, the panelling steps up behind the ministers' and elders' stand, which has one fixed bench and two lateral fixed seats with shaped side panels. Opposite is a panelled wall interrupted only by the gallery on the upper floor of the 1801 cottage, whose panelled timber balustrade is complemented by an iron rail. The cottage's lower floor, now the library, has timber panelled walls and a structural cast-iron post in the shape of a thin column. The floor above has a fireplace with mantelshelf. The ground floor of the 1860 cottage contains a stone staircase to the upstairs flat as well as a kitchen and a corridor leading to the large children's room in the 1970s extension.