Friends Meeting House

BRIDGWATER

ST2936NE FRIARN STREET 736-1/11/90 (North side) 16/12/74 Friends Meeting House

GV II

Friends Meeting House. 1722, much altered 1801 and extended c1971-2. Limestone rubble plinth, Flemish-bond brick with pantile roof and brick stack to left gable end. L-shaped plan. 2 storeys; 3-window range. The first floor has a 6/6-pane sash at eaves level to left and two 8/8-pane sashes to right; The ground floor has gauged brick segmental arches to two 6/6-pane sashes to left, 2 blind windows to right and to the left-of-centre double doors which have 2 panels with beaded edges, 3 steps and a late C19 boot scraper set into plinth. The rear wall of the main block is limestone rubble, windows to the rear wing have timber lintels. INTERIOR: The entrance hall is stone flagged with a barrel-vaulted ceiling and 6-panel doors to the sides. That to right leads to the former meeting room which has steps to a platform along the front wall. The present long meeting room behind the former, probably of 1801, is divided by a wooden screen of vertical sliding sashes with a 6-panel door to left. The whole room is panelled to lower part with horizontal tongued-and-grooved planks; large windows of 4 rows of 6 panes to left wall and 2 octagonal stone columns to front (south) end. (Stell C: Non-conformist Chapels and Meeting-Houses in SW England: London: 1991-: 169).

Listing NGR: ST2986336900