The Brighton Friends Meeting House is a

Friends meeting house A Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), where meeting for worship is usually held. Typically, Friends meeting houses are simple and resemble local residential buildings. Steeples, spires, and ...

( Quaker place of worship) in the centre of Brighton, part of the city of

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

in East Sussex, England. The building, which dates from 1805, replaced an earlier meeting house of 1690 what was then a small fishing village on the Sussex coast. Located at the junction of Ship Street and Prince Albert Street in

The Lanes The Lanes are a collection of narrow lanes in Brighton, in the city of Brighton and Hove famous for their small shops (including several antique shops) and narrow alleyways. The Lanes are commonly taken to be bounded by North Street to the no ...

, the heart of Brighton's "old town" area, its architectural and historic importance has been recognised by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

's granting of Grade II listed status.

History

The Quaker community in Brighton had been prevented from congregating in public by the 1664 Conventicle Act, but some freedom was granted after the

Act of Toleration 1689 The Toleration Act 1688 (1 Will & Mary c 18), also referred to as the Act of Toleration, was an Act of the Parliament of England. Passed in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, it received royal assent on 24 May 1689. The Act allowed for ...

was passed under William III and Mary II's joint sovereignty. By 1690, the community acquired a former

malthouse A malt house, malt barn, or maltings, is a building where cereal grain is converted into malt by soaking it in water, allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop further growth. The malt is used in brewing beer, whisky and in certain food ...

and some adjoining land, which became their first permanent meeting house and a burial ground respectively. This stood near the junction of North Street and New Road, where the Pavilion Theatre now stands. When some pleasure gardens were laid out next to the meeting house in the 1790s, the community sold its grounds (known as Quaker's Croft and extending to ) to the

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...

, and sold the building separately; it was immediately demolished by its new owner. They used the £1,800 funds to buy a plot of land east of Ship Street for £1,000 and build a new meeting house, accessed by a narrow passageway next to two cottages which came with the land. It had an attached caretaker's cottage, and opened for worship in 1805. A large extension was added to the north in 1850; and in 1876, another extension was built to house educational facilities. This is now used for various cultural activities as well. When the meeting house opened, it included a graveyard, but its size was significantly reduced when Prince Albert Street was built in 1838. A new burial ground, then in the parish of

Rottingdean Rottingdean is a village in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. It borders the villages of Saltdean, Ovingdean and Woodingdean, and has a historic centre, often the subject of picture postcards. Name The name Rotting ...

to the east of Brighton, was created in 1855. This in turn was built over in 1972, when the link road to

Brighton Marina Brighton Marina is an artificial marina situated in Brighton, England. It features a working harbour and residential housing alongside a variety of leisure, retail and commercial activities. The construction of the marina itself took place bet ...

was built; bodies were disinterred and taken to another cemetery. The meeting house and its associated buildings were listed at Grade II on 11 April 1995. It is one of 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of

. The meeting house is licensed for worship in accordance with the

Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 The Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which governs the registration and legal recognition of places of worship. It applies only in England and Wales, and does not cover the Church of Englan ...

and has the registration number 4542.

Architecture

The original (1805) section is of three storeys with a single entrance at the southwest corner. The windows on the storeys above the entrance are bricked up; the original sash windows remain to their left. Each window is a different height, and those on the ground and first floors are arched at the top. The main section of the meeting house is the 1850 centre section. This is arranged over two storeys and is topped by a corniced

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

and a

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d roof. There are twin arched entrances in a covered porch, which has an entablature carved with the words . There is one window on each side of the porch, and three round-arched windows at first-floor level; these have architraves and are connected by a long sill. The attached cottage and adult education centre are included in English Heritage's listing for their "group value"—they are considered architecturally complementary to the meeting house. The cottage is on the south side of the meeting house, and has a slate roof and exterior Flemish bond brickwork decorated with

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

and stone dressings. The 1876 extension, on the left (north) side, was built in a similar style to the first extension of 1850; it has two storeys, each with two paired windows on each side of the entrance. The former graveyard is now a garden which surrounds the extension on two sides.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * {{Authority control Churches in Brighton and Hove Quaker meeting houses in England Religious buildings and structures completed in 1805 Grade II listed buildings in Brighton and Hove Grade II listed religious buildings and structures 19th-century Quaker meeting houses 1805 establishments in England

History

Architecture

See also

Notes

Bibliography