Building record 0433900000 - JORDANS MEETING HOUSE

Plan Form - Rectangular.
Land purchased 1671 & appropriated for a cemetery (01:000), meeting house being built 1687-8 (B2).
Many famous Quakers buried here (B4).
Meeting house restored C18 (B5).
Entrance on west side. On east is a stable which may be earlier (B5).
At NGR (B1).
Full historical description, plan, elevations, illustrations etc (B6).
Building damaged by fire March 2005 (B7).
Built in 1688, the meeting-house stands on a sloping site falling away gradually to the S but steeply to the east. The walls are of brick-work with a coved plaster eaves cornice and the hipped roof is covered with tiles (More detail, photos, floor plan and sections) (B8).
Grade I. 1688 (formerly incised on cornice). Red brick, hipped old tile roof with coved cornice. Left hand section containing meeting room is one storeyed with 2 cross mullion diamond lattice casements with flat arches and panelled shutters. Four panel 2 fold door with astragal moulding and oblong 2-light wood mullion fan. Right hand section is 2 storeyed with paired casements. Panelled shutters. Ground floor flat arches. Altered 1717 (incised on brick on north wall). Interior: meeting room has original panelling. Gallery dated 1733. In graveyard immediately outside are buried William Penn and members of his family and Thomas Ellwood (diarist, prominent Quaker and friend of John Milton). This meeting house by reason of its antiquity and its associations with William Penn and the early Quakers has very great historical interest. RCHM I, 82 Monument 2, and VCH III, p 185 (B9).
In 1688 four acres were acquired for the construction of a meeting house. This was built in just three months, opening in the same year and in 1689 the meeting house was registered. There are historical references to alterations in 1733 and the present furnishings and fittings may date from this time. Behind the meeting house was stabling for 20 horses with a hayloft, converted to additional rooms in 1867. The Meeting was discontinued in 1798 and only re-opened in 1910: during this time the loft and room below were used as accommadation by a resident caretaker. In 1958 further alterations and extensions by Hubert Lidbetter created classrooms and WCs on the ground floor and a warden's flat above. In March 2005 a fire in the warden's kitchen caused extensive damage to the rear extensions and to the meeting house roof. The building was repaired and a new two-storey NE extension built by Andrew Townsend Architects including a lift, lobby/study and additional meeting room. The building re-opened in 2008. (See report for detailed description and photos)(B10).