Wandsworth Quaker Meeting House
| Wandsworth Quaker Meeting House | |
|---|---|
| Wandsworth Friends Meeting House | |
| 51°27′23.8″N 0°11′30.2″W / 51.456611°N 0.191722°W | |
| Location | Wandsworth High Street, Wandsworth, London, United Kingdom |
| Address | 59 Wandsworth High Street, London, SW18 2PT |
| Denomination | Quaker |
| Website | https://wandsworth.quakermeeting.org/ |
| History | |
| Status | Active |
| Architecture | |
| Heritage designation | Grade II listed - no. 1299826 |
| Style | neo-Georgian |
| Completed | 1778 |
| Construction cost | about £600 |
Wandsworth Quaker Meeting House is a Grade II listed religious building in Wandsworth. It was built in 1778 and is the earliest surviving Quaker meeting house in Greater London.[1][2][3]
The building is noted by commentators such as John Summerson as a "building of endearing simplicity".[4]
History
Quakers first met on the site of the Wandsworth meeting house in 1673, subletting a small house, a shop and three sheds on the site from a Joan Stringer and adapting it into a meeting house. Notable members of this early meeting include William Mead, tried for unlawful assembly in 1670, and William Penn, later founder of Pennsylvania. There is a burial ground to the rear of the meeting house, and a memorial stone of 1697 records Joan Stringer as "the giver of the ground".[1]
This first meeting house was demolished and replaced by the current building in 1778, at a cost of about £600. Several alterations have been made since it has been built including a women's meeting room, added in either 1798 or around 1811. It has been in continuous use since its foundation.[1]
The building today
The meeting house continues to be the meeting place for Wandsworth Quaker Meeting, which is itself part of Kingston & Wandsworth Area Meeting.[5]
The meeting house is one of the buildings which opens for the public as part of the Open House London festival[6][7]. As well as being used for Quaker meetings for worship, it is also used for meetings by other Christian worshiping groups, community support groups, and the Wandsworth Historical Society.[6]
Gallery
-
The main room of the meeting house.
-
The south face of the meeting house.
-
Headstones in the burial ground of the meeting house.
References
- ^ a b c "Wandsworth Quaker Meeting House including frontage building and boundary walls, Non Civil Parish - 1299826 | Historic England". Historic England. Retrieved 2025-06-09.
- ^ "Quaker Meeting House, Wandsworth" (PDF). Quaker Meeting Houses Heritage Project. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-11-13. Retrieved 2025-06-09.
- ^ Derrick, Andrew (2015). "Quaker Meeting House, Wandsworth, Historic Building Record". Archaeology Data Service. Architectural History Practice Ltd. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
- ^ Homan, Roger (2007). "The Aesthetics of Friends' Meeting Houses". Quaker Studies (1363-013X) | George Fox University. Archived from the original on 2024-06-03. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
- ^ "List of area meetings". Quakers. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
- ^ a b "Quaker Meeting House - Wandsworth". Open House Festival. Retrieved 2025-06-09.
- ^ "Your guide to Open House in Wandsworth". Wandsworth Borough Council. Retrieved 2025-06-09.