Penrith Quaker Meeting House

Penrith Quaker Meeting House

A Quaker meeting house dating from the 17th century, altered in the 18th century and enlarged in 1803. Later extensions and interior alterations were designed by ADL Keswick and John Bodger Architect Ltd.

The building is constructed from coursed squared sandstone blocks covered with a lime render, with Cumbrian slate roof coverings. The main meeting house is T-shaped in plan, with the main range oriented north-west to south-east and a perpendicular entrance wing. Small single-storey rectangular extensions from 1991 and 2008 occupy the returns to the north and south of the entrance wing, with a small lean-to addition on the north-east elevation.

The meeting house stands on the south side of Meeting House Lane. The principal south-west elevation presents the gable end of the early 19th-century entrance wing, flanked to the left by the projecting gable end of the single-storey children's room and to the right by a single-storey, flat-roofed garden room. The centrally-placed main entrance, with a chamfered stone doorway approached by two steps, is flanked by two six-over-six sash windows on the upper level of the gable. The children's room gable includes a nine-paned window with a door in the south return, whilst the garden room is a flat-roofed timber structure with full-height glazing. A small six-light window in the upper level of the main meeting house range lights both the children's room and garden room.

The north-west elevation features two window openings lighting the children's room and a nine-paned window in the main range gable lighting a ground-floor kitchen. The north-east elevation is blank, with the small lean-to extension lit by a window in its east return wall. The south-east elevation contains two nine-paned windows in the main range gable, lighting a ground-floor reception room (the left window being a more recent opening). The garden room's projecting end includes a glazed double-leaf doorway in its north return. Stone window surrounds are painted throughout.

The interior is accessed through the full-height early 19th-century entrance wing. Joinery is unpainted pine and walls and flat ceiling are plainly plastered. A panelled Elders' Stand of two raked fixed benches occupies the north-west wall, with the rear bench enclosed by panelling and hand-rail on plain posts, accessed by a centrally-placed double-leaf gate and flight of three steps. Timber partitions with vertically-sliding screens divide the main meeting room from a kitchen to the north and reception room to the south. First-floor galleries over both spaces are blocked from the main meeting room by tongue-and-groove panelling, though the balustrades with turned balusters remain in place overlooking it. The sloping ceilings of the kitchen and reception room accommodate the raked galleries above. The kitchen connects to the children's room, whilst the reception room, which contains a cast-iron fireplace in its south-east wall, communicates with toilets in the lean-to.