Chesham Quaker Meeting House

Chesham Quaker Meeting House

This Quaker meeting house was built by 1798 and stands in the Quaker burial ground on Bellingdon Road. The building is constructed in red brick with clay tile roof coverings and was extended between 1962 and 1964 to designs by architect NH Pymer.

The original 18th-century meeting house is a single-storey rectangular building with a hipped roof. It is oriented east-west and finished with a brick dentil eaves cornice. The exterior elevations are laid in English bond except for the south elevation, which is laid in Flemish bond. The east and west elevations are blank, with the east wall featuring two raked brick buttresses. The north elevation contains two stepped brick buttresses between its window openings. T-shaped tie-plates are present at the east and west ends of both south and north elevations.

The south front comprises four bays containing six-over-six sash windows under cambered brick arches with concrete cills. The position of the original porch is now occupied by a short link with a pitched roof that connects to the 1960s extension.

The extension is single-storey and rectangular, arranged in two units. It is built in red brick laid to stretcher bond and includes a lobby area with pitched roof, a kitchen unit with flat roof, and link spaces with pitched and hipped roofs, all with clay tile coverings. The extension reuses bricks, including one dated 1806. The entrance door is on the west elevation of the extension. The kitchen to the east is lit by windows in its south and east walls. The extension's south elevation includes four small two-light windows.

Interior

The extension's entrance leads into a small lobby providing access to toilets. A door to the north opens into a main entrance lobby, from which the kitchen is accessed. Two flush-panelled doors in their original pegged frames in the north wall of the main entrance lobby lead into the original meeting house, which is divided into two spaces by a timber partition with vertical sliding sash shutters.

The smaller western space, formerly a women's business meeting room, contains boarded dado panelling and fixed benches to the walls. Timber floorboards run front to back, and the floor level is slightly higher than in the main meeting room. It is lit by a window in the north wall.

The main eastern meeting room also has boarded dado panelling and fixed benches to the walls. An Elders' stand occupies the east wall, with the dado slightly elevated to accommodate it. The stand comprises two tiers of benches with two-step rakes at the north and south ends. The back of the front bench forms a panelled front to the elevated rear bench. Timber floorboards run side to side, and the room is lit by one window in the north wall and two in the south. Pendant lights hang from the flat ceiling.