Long Sutton Quaker Meeting House

The Meeting House was built in 1717 by William Steele, a London Quaker merchant. In its early days the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) did not believe that any space was more holy than anywhere else so held Meetings for Worship in private homes, in the fields or in orchards.
Gradually, Meetings moved into buildings - private homes or barns for example - but inevitably some Quaker Meetings started to build their own places for Meetings – hence the name, ‘Meeting Houses’.

Two notable features are the style of the building, and the wooden shutters that are still in place beside every window. The tall sash windows (some of the earliest of their kind) are Queen Anne style. The storm porches were probably added later, but otherwise the building’s exterior remains as it was when completed in 1717.
Inside the building there is also much that is original, including the wooden partitions and panelling, many of the fixtures and a clever device that allows the top half of the inner walls to be lowered to extend the area available for those participating in Quaker Meetings, weddings or funerals.
The benches, designed and made locally are simple and plain, apart from the shaped bench ends. Historic England describes our main room as ‘severely plain’, but Nikolaus Pevsner, in his 1958 books, “The Buildings of England”, recognised that it has an atmosphere of peace and neatness.

Timings

Saturday 19 September:

11am - 4pm

Location & directions

Friends Meeting House, Langport Road, Long Sutton, Somerton, Somerton, Somerset, TA10 9NE

Directions:

You can park in Shute Lane, next to the Meeting House (but please respect our neighbours' access) and there is a small car park next to the Court House. Coming from the Somerton direction, there is a small turn-off on the left, 80 metres after the Meeting House.

Contact on day:

Gill Greenfield

Booking information

Pre-booking requirement:

Pre-booking not required

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