Friends Meeting House
FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE, MEETING HOUSE LANE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1270207
- Date first listed:
- 02-Mar-1950
- List Entry Name:
- Friends Meeting House
- Statutory Address:
- FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE, MEETING HOUSE LANE
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Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2006-01-25
- Reference:
- IOE01/14883/11
- Rights:
- © Mr Adrian Allchin. Source: Historic England Archive
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Official list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1270207
- Date first listed:
- 02-Mar-1950
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 19-Apr-1996
- List Entry Name:
- Friends Meeting House
- Statutory Address 1:
- FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE, MEETING HOUSE LANE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE, MEETING HOUSE LANE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Westmorland and Furness (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Ulverston
- National Grid Reference:
- SD 28378 76875
Details
ULVERSTON
SD27NE MEETING HOUSE LANE 626-1/1/91 (North side) 02/03/50 Friends' Meeting House (Formerly Listed as: MEETING HOUSE LANE Friends' Meeting House) (Formerly Listed as: MEETING HOUSE LANE Stable Block at Friends' Meeting House)
II*
Quaker meeting house. Dated 1688; interior altered 1814; sash windows added 1829; gable wall slated 1843. Roughcast with some sandstone ashlar dressings and some slatehanging, with slate roof. To the left of the single-storey gabled porch are 3 windows with plain reveals and projecting sills lighting the main meeting room. They were inserted in 1829 but now have C20 casements with glazing bars replacing the original glazing bar sashes. To the right of the porch there are 2 windows at both ground-floor and gallery level lighting the former womens' meeting house. All are mullioned and of 2 lights with leaded glazing. Those on the ground floor are cyma-moulded and those on the 1st floor are chamfered and have hoods. The wall of the porch is cut back where it overlaps the left-hand window. The porch has a sandstone plinth and moulded doorway which has a lintel with false 4-centred arch. The lintel has a re-cut inscription: 'EX DONO G.F. [George Fox] 1688'. The inner doorway has a moulded stone surround and studded plank doors. The left-hand gable wall has slatehanging which returns to cover part of the front wall. Projecting from the right-hand gable wall is a chimney stack with offsets. Adjoining to the right is the former stable block, now converted into a meeting room. It has a lower roof which projects forwards at the left to form a canopy over a doorway. A wide doorway towards the right has plain reveals and is now filled by a glazed screen. INTERIOR: the main meeting room has a high ceiling with exposed hardwood tie beams. The timber screen at the east end of the meeting room dates from 1814 and has top-hung shutters opening at both ground-floor and gallery level. Between the passageway and the east room there are similar shutters. Both this room and the passageway have stone-flagged floors, and the room has 2 axial main ceiling beams and a fireplace with
the remains of moulded jambs. HISTORICAL NOTE: George Fox bought the property at Swarthmoor in 1687 from two of Judge Fell's daughters and passed it on to the Friends with instructions on how to build the meeting house, which was registered as a place of worship in 1689. The former stable block was listed on 20/06/72. (Butler DM: Quaker Meeting Houses of the Lake Counties: London: 1978-: 123-5).
Listing NGR: SD2837876875
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 459992
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Butler, D M, Quaker Meeting Houses of the Lake Counties, (1978), 123-125
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 08-Jun-2026 at 05:02:11.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.