Listed Building record MDO12235 - Friends Meeting House, South Street, Bridport

The Meeting House was given by Daniel Taylor to the Society of Friends' in 1697 and is said to have originally been a barn, perhaps 17th century in date. It was altered in the 18th century and more recently. It is constructed from rubble stone with a slate roof and has some early 18th century windows. Inside the building, there are galleries on the north and east sides.

The Meeting House was given by Daniel Taylor to the Society of Friends' in 1697. It forms a small courtyard together with the almshouses to the north. The meeting house is said to have originally been a barn and is perhaps 17th century in date. It was altered in the 18th century and more recently. There is a modern meeting room added to the east. It is constructed from rubble stone with a slate roof. There is an early 18th century window with a wooden frame, mullion and transom in the west wall and windows of similar date in the north wall. Inside the building, there are galleries on the north and east sides, the northern gallery supported on three old timber posts. <1> <3>

Friends meetings commenced in private houses in 1657, and in 1697 commenced in Daniel Taylor's barn. The barn, together with adjacent houses and tenements of 15th-16th century date, were given to the friends for use as a meeting house and almshouses. These were probably rebuilt in 1707, fitted with galleries in 1720, and much altered in 1958. The building is of rubble with slate roofs, arranged around a courtyard, with an entrance passage through a former house on the west side, further almshouses to the north, the present meeting house to the south, and a smaller meeting room of more recent date on the east side. There is a burial ground behind in South Mill Lane. <2>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 46-48 (Monograph). SDO97.

<2> Stell, C, 1991, An Inventory of Nonconformist Chapels and Meeting-Houses in South-West England, 111 (Monograph). SDO11597.

<3> Burton, N, 2016, Friends Meeting House, Bridport. Historic Building Record (Unpublished document). SDO14947.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1486398 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 30 2024 11:10AM