Long Sutton Quaker Meeting House

Quaker Meeting House. Completed in 1717 and renovated in 1961.

MATERIALS The meeting house is constructed of coursed blue lias stone ashlar with Hamstone dressings under a hipped roof of Welsh slate with stone slates to the base courses.

PLAN It is a rectangular, single-storey building of three bays and one bay deep. There is a burial ground to the rear (south), and the original plot is defined by boundary walls (Grade II).

EXTERIOR The building has a stone plinth and a moulded stringcourse above the ground-floor openings which is broken by the upper windows in the west and east elevations. There is a moulded timber cornice below the eaves. The longer north and south walls each has two nine/nine paned sash windows with the original thick glazing bars, set in Hamstone surrounds with flat-arched heads and external timber, panelled shutters with L-shaped hinges. Towards the east end of both sides is a wide doorway set in a heavy, moulded timber frame with a heavy segmental canopy. The double doors have raised and fielded panelling. Above the central window of the north elevation is a small Hamstone plaque with a moulded surround and cornice which carries the inscription: Ex Dono/ Willm Steell/ Anno Dom/ 1717. The east elevation has centrally placed upper and lower windows with shutters; the lower window has six/six panes and a Hamstone drip-moulding. The west elevation has a single upper window with shutters and a drip-moulding.

INTERIOR The interior is simple and unadorned, and comprises a single room, with a gallery at the east end above the entrance passage. The meeting room has plain, plastered walls, three decorative wall brackets for oil lamps, a coved ceiling with a plaster vault, a late-C20 large, steel lantern and a pine boarded floor. Across the full width of the west end is a stand with a plain panelled back and fixed seating along the open-railed front. There are further unfixed bench seats with solid shaped ends and railed backs, many of which appear to be original. The gallery projects into the room and inserted slender, metal props support the gallery beam. The passage is separated from the meeting room by a partition of fielded panelling with moveable shutters; at its centre is a pair of two-panelled doors with wooden latch and L-shaped hinges. The passage has a stone-flagged floor and the original gallery stairs. The staircase has heavy turned balusters and newels with knob finials, and is enclosed in later boxing. The gallery, formerly used for female meetings, has plain plastered walls and is screened from the meeting room by fielded panelling with sliding shutters. It is now used for storage.