Coanwood Friends Meeting House is a redundant Quaker meeting house under the care of the

Historic Chapels Trust The Historic Chapels Trust is a British Registered Charity set up to care for redundant non- Anglican churches, chapels, and places of worship in England. To date, its holdings encompass various nonconformist Christian denominations and Rom ...

. It stands in an isolated, sparsely populated valley south of Hadrian's Wall, in East Coanwood, about 5 miles south of the town of

Haltwhistle Haltwhistle is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, east of Brampton. It had a population of 3,811 at the 2011 Census. Stone-built houses are a feature of Haltwhistle. It is one of two settlements in Great Britain which c ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

The Wigham family was an important family in Northumberland in the 17th and 18th centuries. In about 1734 Cuthbert Wigham joined the Society of Friends and founded a meeting of the Society in Coanwood. The meeting house was built in 1760 at a cost of £104 (equivalent to £ in ), on a plot of land given by Cuthbert Wigham. The meeting house is historically important because it has not been modified since then, other than the original heather-

thatch Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

roof being replaced by slates during the 19th century. The building has been used in the past by the Coanwood Reading Society, and contained a library with books to loan. Since coming under the care of the

it has been repaired "in a manner that conserves its unique fabric and furnishings".

Architecture

Coanwood Friends Meeting House is a single-storey building built on a

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

. Its plan is rectangular, measuring long by wide. It is constructed in squared stone in four bays with rusticated quoins and dressings. The roof has

eave The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

s of stone flags with slates above, and a stone ridge. There are fixed 12-pane windows in the two left (western) bays and in the bay on the right. Between them, in the third bay, are three steps leading up to a rectangular doorway. The lintel over the door is inscribed with the date 1760. The left and right sides are plain with

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 ...

s and in the back wall is a 16-pane sash window. Attached to the right wall is a

lean-to A lean-to is a type of simple structure originally added to an existing building with the rafters "leaning" against another wall. Free-standing lean-to structures are generally used as shelters. One traditional type of lean-to is known by its Finn ...

earth closet with a stone-slate roof. The interior is divided into two rooms by a partition containing top-hinged shutters to the right of the entrance. The larger room on the left has a stone-flagged floor, and contains simple wooden benches. There is a central

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

with seven rows of open-backed benches facing to the west. Opposite these and facing them are two rows of benches on a

dais A dais or daïs ( or , American English also but sometimes considered nonstandard)dais
in the Random House Dictionary< ...

; these are sometimes called elders' benches. The benches form "a rare survival of the historic Quaker layout". The smaller room contains a fireplace and a grate with an iron hob. The meeting house stands in a graveyard that contains "typical Quaker gravestones", many of which commemorate members of the Wigham family.

Present day

The meeting house is in an area where there are many walkers' paths. It is normally left unlocked during daylight hours and open to visitors. In September each year the Hexham Quaker Meeting holds a meeting for worship and a family picnic at the meeting house.

References

{{Reflist Grade II* listed churches in Northumberland 18th-century Protestant churches Churches preserved by the Historic Chapels Trust Quaker meeting houses in England 18th-century Quaker meeting houses Grade II* listed religious buildings and structures Churches in Northumberland

History

Architecture

Present day

See also

References