Coanwood Friends Meeting House

Last updated
Coanwood Friends Meeting House
Friends Meeting House, Coanwood near Haltwhistle - geograph.org.uk - 103790.jpg
Coanwood Friends Meeting House
from the south
Location Coanwood, Northumberland, England
Coordinates 54°55′27″N2°27′15″W / 54.9243°N 2.4541°W / 54.9243; -2.4541 Coordinates: 54°55′27″N2°27′15″W / 54.9243°N 2.4541°W / 54.9243; -2.4541
OS grid reference NY 709 590
Built1760
Built forCoanwood Quaker Meeting
Governing body Historic Chapels Trust
Listed Building – Grade II*
Designated24 November 1967
Reference no.1042914
Northumberland UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in Northumberland

Coanwood Friends Meeting House is a redundant Quaker meeting house under the care of the Historic Chapels Trust. 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 in Northumberland, England. [1] It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated 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 (equivalent to £15,840 in 2019), [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 left unlocked during daylight hours 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

Related Research Articles

Haltwhistle Human settlement in England

Haltwhistle is a small town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, 10 miles (16 km) east of Brampton, near Hadrian's Wall. It had a population of 3,811 at the 2011 Census.

Tabley House country house in Tabley Inferior, Cheshire, England

Tabley House is an English country house in Tabley Inferior, some 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) to the west of the town of Knutsford, Cheshire. The house is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. It was built between 1761 and 1769 for Sir Peter Byrne Leicester, to replace the nearby Tabley Old Hall, and was designed by John Carr.

Coanwood Human settlement in England

Coanwood is a village in Northumberland, England, and is part of the Parish of Haltwhistle. It is about four miles (6 km) to the south-west of Haltwhistle, on the South Tyne. Nearby is the village of Lambley.

Friends meeting house meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

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 do not have steeples.

Biddlestone Chapel Church in Northumberland, England

Biddlestone Chapel is a redundant Roman Catholic chapel in Biddlestone, Northumberland, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and owned by the Historic Chapels Trust. The lower parts of the structure, a former pele tower, are designated as a Scheduled Monument. The chapel is located on the slopes of the Cheviot Hills in the Northumberland National Park.

Cornwall Friends Meeting House United States historic place

The Cornwall Friends Meeting House is a historic meeting house located on a 5.4-acre (2.2 ha) parcel of land at the junction of Quaker Avenue and US 9W in Cornwall, New York, United States, near Cornwall-St. Luke's Hospital. It is both the oldest religious building in the town, and the first one built. In 1988 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a well-preserved, minimally-altered example of a late 18th-century Quaker meeting house.

Saylesville Meetinghouse United States historic place

The Saylesville Friends Meetinghouse is an historic Quaker meetinghouse on Smithfield Avenue within the village of Saylesville in the town of Lincoln, Rhode Island.

Amawalk Friends Meeting House United States historic place

Amawalk Friends Meeting House is located on Quaker Church Road in Yorktown Heights, New York, United States. It is a timber frame structure built in the 1830s. In 1989 it and its adjoining cemetery were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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 Roman Catholic sites.

Farfield Friends Meeting House Former Quaker meeting house in Addingham, England

Farfield Friends Meeting House is a Quaker meeting house no longer regularly in use by a Quaker meeting and now owned by the Historic Chapels Trust. It is located some 2 miles (3 km) north of the village of Addingham, West Yorkshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building..

Salem Chapel, East Budleigh church in East Devon, UK

Salem Chapel is in Vicarage Road, East Budleigh, Devon, England. Initially a Presbyterian, then a Congregational chapel, it was later owned by the Assemblies of God, and is now owned by the Historic Chapels Trust. The chapel, together with the adjacent assembly room and the boundary walls, is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is mentioned as the final two words of the short story, "Pomp and Vanities", written by S.Baring-Gould, circa 1865 and contained in his "Book of Ghost Stories", first published in 1903. The final two words, Salem Chapel, are referenced as an example of everything "heaven is not"!

St Benets Chapel, Netherton Church in Merseyside, England

St Benet's Chapel is a redundant Roman Catholic chapel in Chapel Lane, Netherton, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The chapel and the attached priest's house are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. In the List it is described as "an important example of an early Catholic church and is one of the best preserved examples in the north-west". It is managed by the Historic Chapels Trust.

Old Church of St Afran, St Ieuan and St Sannan, Llantrisant Church in Anglesey, Wales

The Old Church of St Afran, St Ieuan and St Sannan, Llantrisant, is a redundant church in the settlement of Llantrisant, Anglesey, Wales. It is designated by Cadw as a Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches. It is set in an isolated position off a country road and is adjacent to a farmstead.

St Cuthberts Church, Holme Lacy Church in Herefordshire, England

St Cuthbert's Church is a redundant Anglican church about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the southeast of the village of Holme Lacy, Herefordshire, England. It stands in an isolated position at the end of a lane in a bend of the River Wye. It is designated in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

All Saints Church, Saltfleetby Church in Lincolnshire, England

All Saints Church, Saltfleetby, is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Saltfleetby All Saints, Lincolnshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church stands in the marshland of Lincolnshire, and has a leaning west tower.

Bluecoat School, Chester

The Blue Coat School is located in Upper Northgate Street, Chester, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.

St Marys Church, Presbytery and Convent, Little Crosby Church in Merseyside, England

St Mary's Church, Presbytery and Convent are in Back Lane, Little Crosby, Sefton, Merseyside, England. The church is an active Roman Catholic parish church in the diocese of Liverpool which was built in 1845–47. The presbytery and convent were both built in the 18th century, and altered in the 19th century. The convent originated as a chapel, and has since been converted into a private dwelling. Both the church and the former convent with its attached presbytery are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as designated Grade II listed buildings.

Roaring Creek Friends Meeting House

The Roaring Creek Friends Meeting House is a historic place of worship for members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, in rural Columbia County, Pennsylvania, near Numidia on Quaker Meeting House Road.

Todenham Human settlement in England

Todenham is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. The village is significant for its Grade I listed 14th-century parish church.

Church of St Cuthbert, Bellingham A stone church building in Northumberland, England that dates partially from the 13th century

The Church of St Cuthbert is a grade I listed building in Bellingham, Northumberland, owned by the Church of England. Parts of the church date to the 13th century and it survived the raids of the border reivers which burnt down many structures in the village. The structure consists of a nave, chancel and a large south chapel. The chancel is noted for having a remarkable roof consisting of strips of Lakeland slate. The graveyard contains the "Lang Pack", a tomb associated with a nearby country house robbery legend.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Coanwood Friends Meeting House, Historic Chapels Trust , retrieved 3 July 2010
  2. 1 2 3 4 Historic England, "Friends' Meeting House, Coanwood (1042914)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 10 July 2013
  3. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Coanwood Friends Meeting House, Hexham Quakers, archived from the original on 3 January 2010, retrieved 3 July 2010