- Coanwood Friends Meeting House
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Coordinates: 54°55′27″N 2°27′15″W / 54.9243°N 2.4541°W
Coanwood Friends Meeting House 
Coanwood Friends Meeting House
from the southLocation: Coanwood, Northumberland, England OS grid reference: NY 709 590 Built: 1760 Built for: Coanwood Quaker Meeting Governing body: Historic Chapels Trust Listed Building – Grade II* Designated: 24 November 1967 Reference #: 1042914 
Location in NorthumberlandCoanwood Friends Meeting House is a redundant Quaker meeting house under the care of the Historic Chapels Trust. It stands in an isolated, unpopulated valley south of Hadrian's Wall, about 2 miles (3 km) east of the village of Coanwood, and about 5 miles (8 km) south of the town of Haltwhistle in Northumberland, England.[1] It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.[2]
Contents
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 (£15,150 as of 2011),[3] 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 roof being replaced by slates during the 19th century.[4] The building has been used in the past by the Coanwood Reading Society, and contained a library with books to loan.[4] Since coming under the care of the Historic Chapels Trust it has been repaired "in a manner that conserves its unique fabric and furnishings".[1]
Architecture
Coanwood Friends Meeting House is a single-storey building built on a plinth.[2] Its plan is rectangular, measuring 31.1 metres (102 ft) long by 6.2 metres (20 ft) wide.[4] It is constructed in squared stone in four bays with rusticated quoins and dressings. The roof has eaves 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 gables and in the back wall is a 16-pane sash window. Attached to the right wall is a lean-to earth closet with a stone-slate roof.[2]
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.[2] There is a central aisle with seven rows of open-backed benches facing to the west. Opposite these and facing them are two rows of benches on a dais; these are sometimes called elders' benches.[4] The benches form "a rare survival of the historic Quaker layout".[1] 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.[1]
Present day
The meeting house is in an area where there are many walkers' paths. It is normally unlocked and open to visitors.[1] In September each year the Hexham Quaker Meeting holds a meeting for worship and a family picnic at the meeting house.[4]
See also
- List of chapels preserved by the Historic Chapels Trust
References
- ^ a b c d e Coanwood Friends Meeting House, Historic Chapels Trust, http://www.hct.org.uk/chapels/north-east/coanwood-friends-meeting-house/10, retrieved 3 July 2010
- ^ a b c d "Friends' Meeting House, Coanwood", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1042914, retrieved 13 May 2011
- ^ UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Lawrence H. Officer (2010) "What Were the UK Earnings and Prices Then?" MeasuringWorth.
- ^ a b c d e Coanwood Friends Meeting House, Hexham Quakers, http://www.hexhamquakers.org.uk/Coanwood2.htm, retrieved 3 July 2010
Categories:- Grade II* listed buildings in Northumberland
- 1760 architecture
- Protestant congregations established in the 18th century
- 18th-century church buildings
- Churches preserved by the Historic Chapels Trust
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