Thirsk Quaker Meeting House and Quaker Cottage, Thirsk, North Yorkshire

Summary

Quaker meeting house and cottage, 1799, with C19 and C20 alterations.

Description

Quaker meeting house and cottage, 1799 with C19 and C20 alterations.

MATERIALS: pinkish brown brick, Welsh slate clad roof with grey ridge-tiles.

PLAN: rectangular-plan, aligned north-east to south-west; the meeting house is set end on to Kirkgate, with a narrow passageway from the street on its south-eastern side, giving access to the building.

EXTERIOR: a tall single-storey six-bay rectangular-plan structure, built end-on to the street. The roof has plain rendered gable verges and slightly projecting side verges, drained by cast-iron rainwater goods. The western-most bay of the building is now an integral two-storey cottage, accessed by an attached mid-C20 two-storey extension. which obscures the western-most bays of the south-east elevation. The remainder of the south-east elevation has four high-set sash windows beneath flat brick arches, set over a rendered, elongated, low single-storey lean-to porch and cloakroom that has a felt-clad roof. The lean-to has an off-set, recessed doorway and is lit by three four-light timber sliding sash windows, with painted stone sills, and a similar window in the north-east elevation, which is flanked by a fire exit door from the meeting house. The north-west elevation is largely blind and partially obscured by an attached cottage 26 Kirkgate; it has one three-light window under the eaves, and a small single-storey lean-to built against the north-east corner with a projecting chimney breast. The two gable ends are similar in appearance; however, the north-east gable has a plain square glass panel in the attic, a pair of square four-light sashes to first-floor level and two eight-light sash windows to the ground-floor. The south-west gable has four, two-over-two rectangular sash windows with exposed sash boxes, and a square four-light Yorkshire sash attic window. A cast-iron stench pipe is attached to the south-west corner of the gable. The roof has plain rendered gable verges and slightly projecting side verges, drained by cast-iron rainwater goods. A ridge stack serving the cottage rises above the roof line at the junction of the cottage and the meeting house. The north-west wall is attached to the listed Grade II 26 and 28 Kirkgate (National Heritage List for England (NHLE): 1314936) and rises above the verge to form a low parapet wall, capped with flat coping stones; the gutter behind it, drains into a faceted storm box on the gable wall. A Bakelite General Post Office (GPO) telephone insulation pot is attached to a bracket at the south-west corner.

INTERIOR: the lean-to porch provides toilets to each side of the entrance lobby. The meeting house has a wide entrance hall, with a kitchen to the north-west. Access to the main meeting room from the hall is on the north-east side and a secondary meeting room is situated to the south-west. The main meeting room is plain, with painted plastered walls and a low inserted ceiling. The secondary meeting room has an early-C20 panelled partition separating it from the hall and evidence of the former gallery can be seen above the windows to the south-east, where the ceiling slopes. The north-west wall is occupied by a number of early-C20 panelled and fitted cupboards. Quaker Cottage occupies the south-western bay of the building on two floors and the attic; no information is available on its internal arrangements.

History

The Quaker movement emerged out of a period of religious and political turmoil in the mid-C17. Its main protagonist, George Fox, openly rejected traditional religious doctrine, instead promoting the theory that all people could have a direct relationship with God, without dependence on sermonising ministers, nor the necessity of consecrated places of worship. Fox, originally from Leicestershire, claimed the Holy Spirit was within each person, and from 1647 travelled the country as an itinerant preacher. 1652 was pivotal in his campaign; after a vision on Pendle Hill, Lancashire, Fox was moved to visit Firbank Fell, Cumbria, where he delivered a rousing, three-hour speech to an assembly of 1,000 people, and recruited numerous converts. The Quakers, formally named the Religious Society of Friends, was thus established.

Fox asserted that no one place was holier than another, and in their early days, the new congregations often met for silent worship at outdoor locations; the use of members’ houses, barns, and other secular premises followed. Persecution of Nonconformists proliferated in the period, with Quakers suffering disproportionately. The Quaker Act of 1662, and the Conventicle Act of 1664, forbade their meetings, though they continued in defiance, and a number of meeting houses date from this early period. Broad Campden, Gloucestershire, came into Quaker use in 1663 and is the earliest meeting house in Britain, although it was out of use from 1871 to 1961. The meeting house at Hertford, 1670, is the oldest to be purpose built. The Act of Toleration, passed in 1689, was one of several steps towards freedom of worship outside the established church, and thereafter meeting houses began to make their mark on the landscape.

Quaker meeting houses are generally characterised by simplicity of design, both externally and internally, reflecting the form of worship they were designed to accommodate. The earliest purpose-built meeting houses were built by local craftsmen following regional traditions and were on a domestic scale, frequently resembling vernacular houses; at the same time, a number of older buildings were converted to Quaker use. From the first, most meeting houses shared certain characteristics, containing a well-lit meeting hall with a simple arrangement of seating. In time a raised stand became common behind the bench for the Elders, so that travelling ministers could be better heard. Where possible, a meeting house would provide separate accommodation for the women’s business meetings, and early meeting houses may retain a timber screen, allowing the separation (and combination) of spaces for business and worship. In general, the meeting house will have little or no decoration or enrichment, with joinery frequently left unpainted. Ancillary buildings erected in addition to a meeting house could include stabling and covered spaces such as a gig house; caretaker’s accommodation; or a school room or adult school.

Throughout the C18 and early C19 many new meeting houses were built, or earlier buildings remodelled, with ‘polite’, classically-informed designs appearing, reflecting architectural trends more widely. However, the buildings were generally of modest size and with minimal ornament, although examples in urban settings tended to be more architecturally ambitious. After 1800, it became more common for meeting houses to be designed by an architect or surveyor. The Victorian and Edwardian periods saw greater stylistic eclecticism, though the Gothic Revival associated with the Established Church was not embraced; on the other hand, Arts and Crafts principles had much in common with those of the Quakers, and a number of meeting houses show the influence of that movement.

The C20 saw changes in the way meeting houses were used which influenced their design and layout. In 1896 it was decided to unite men’s and women’s business, so separate rooms were no longer needed, whilst from the mid-1920s ministers were not recorded, and consequently stands were rarely provided in new buildings. Seating was therefore rearranged without reference to the stand, with moveable chairs set in concentric circles becoming the norm in smaller meeting houses. By the interwar years, there was a shift towards more flexible internal planning, together with the provision of additional rooms for purposes other than worship, reflecting the meeting house’s community role – the need for greater contact with other Christians and a more active contribution within the wider world had been an increasing concern since the 1890s. Traditional styles continued to be favoured, from grander Classical buildings in urban centres to local examples in domestic neo-Georgian.

The Quaker movement was established early on in Yorkshire, with George Fox touring through the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire in 1651 and 1652, 1663 and 1677, and it is believed that he visited Thirsk on one of these occasions. The Thirsk meeting house can trace its origins to 1647, when Thomas Pratt purchased a property from Thomas Osburne for £25 5s 0d in order to be able to hold gatherings of Seekers; however, it was not registered formally for use by the Friends until after the passing of the Act of Toleration in 1689. During the late C18 a decision was taken to dismantle this building and to replace it with the existing structure, which was opened in 1799. The interior of the building contained a gallery, a women’s business room, separated from the main meeting room by a partition, and an Elders’ stand at the north-east end. In 1833 the adjacent land to the rear was acquired from John Foster for £100 and was enclosed by a wall to form a burial ground. By 1876 the two meeting rooms had been merged into one, wood panelling to the walls had been introduced, the gallery removed, a hot water apparatus and a gas chandelier was installed, and a single-storey lean-to porch and cloak room were built against the south-east wall. It is unclear when the western bay of the building was converted into a cottage; however, in 1954, improvements were made to it at a cost of £700, including the building of a small two-storey entrance range.

Owing to declining numbers in 1957, the meeting closed and it was not until 1973 that the meeting was revived, regaining its Preparative Meeting status in 1981. Following the re-establishment of the meeting, improvements and alterations were made to the meeting house in 1984. This work included a meeting room to the north-east with lowered windows, a room for children’s activities and letting space to the south-west, with a wide hall in between, and the kitchen and toilets were located in the lean-to entrance. In 2006, the entrance was rearranged, with toilet facilities located to either side of an entrance porch. A kitchen was inserted at the north-west end of the wide hall between the two meeting rooms, windows in the south-east elevation previously partly blocked were opened up, and disabled access was improved.

Reasons for Listing

Thirsk Quaker Meeting House of 1799 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a late-C18 purpose-built meeting house that retains a significant proportion of its original fabric, with the potential to yield further evidence about its origins and development;
* built in the vernacular style with an unassuming design, it retains much of its plain external detailing and character typical of the traditions of the Quaker movement;
* although altered on a number of occasions, it retains evidence of its original internal arrangements and their evolution.

Historic interest:

* the site has been in Quaker use since 1647 and before the Act of Toleration of 1689, and is understood to have been visited by George Fox, during his tours of the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire between 1651 and 1677.

Group value:

* the meeting house has a spatial group value with a number of listed Grade II buildings along Kirkgate, including 26 and 28 Kirkgate.

External Links

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