Horsham District Council

Listed building outline: THE BLUE IDOL MEETING HOUSE COOLHAM THAKEHAM C447

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THE BLUE IDOL MEETING HOUSE COOLHAM THAKEHAM C447

• geometry: MULTIPOLYGON (((-0.423334 50.996936,-0.423368 50.996940,-0.423381...
• entry-date: 2004-02-16
• listed-building: 1181144
• name: THE BLUE IDOL MEETING HOUSE COOLHAM THAKEHAM
• reference: C447
• start-date: 1955-03-15
• description: Summary Quaker meeting house. Late-C16, adapted in the 1690s. Late-C19 and early-C20 alterations, including an extension of 1934-1935 to the design of Hubert Lidbetter. Restored in 2013-2015 under the instruction of Simon Dyson, HMDW Architects. Reasons for Designation Blue Idol Quaker Meeting House, situated on Oldhouse Lane, is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: Architectural interest: * as an historic survivor of a late-C17 Quaker meeting house adapted from a farmhouse of about 1580 and retaining original fabric; * the main meeting house retains its essential historic form and character; * the vernacular architectural style typifies the Quaker preference for modest buildings for worship and evidences the development of the meeting house type; * the plan form of the main meeting house and historic fabric preserved in the interior, including the Elders’ Stand and gallery, provide evidence for the division of space and internal arrangements typical for earlier Quaker meeting houses. Historic interest: * for its close and evidenced association with William Penn (1644-1718), leading Quaker advocate instrumental in the formation of Quakerism and founder of Pennsylvania, who played a role in establishing Quaker meetings at Blue Idol; * standing in the attached Quaker burial ground, which includes the grave of William Penn’s daughter Letitia Aubrey, and in close proximity to the detached Quaker burial ground to the north-west. Group value: * with the Grade II-listed Blue Idol Stable. History The Quaker movement emerged out of a period of religious and political turmoil in the mid-C17. Its main protagonist, George Fox, openly rejected traditional religious doctrine, instead promoting the theory that all people could have a direct relationship with God, without dependence on sermonising ministers, nor the necessity of consecrated places of worship. Fox, originally from Leicestershire, claimed the Holy Spirit was within each person, and from 1647 travelled the country as an itinerant preacher. 1652 was pivotal in his campaign; after a vision on Pendle Hill, Lancashire, Fox was moved to visit Firbank Fell, Cumbria, where he delivered a rousing, three-hour speech to an assembly of 1000 people, and recruited numerous converts. The Quakers, formally named the Religious Society of Friends, was thus established. Fox asserted that no one place was holier than another, and in their early days, the new congregations often met for silent worship at outdoor locations; the use of members’ houses, barns, and other secular premises followed. Persecution of Nonconformists proliferated in the period, with Quakers suffering disproportionately. The Quaker Act of 1662, and the Conventicle Act of 1664, forbade their meetings, though they continued in defiance, and a number of meeting houses date from this early period. Broad Campden, Gloucestershire, came into Quaker use in 1663 and is the earliest meeting house in Britain, although it was out of use from 1871 to 1961. The meeting house at Hertford, 1670, is the oldest to be purpose built. The Act of Toleration, passed in 1689, was one of several steps towards freedom of worship outside the established church, and thereafter meeting houses began to make their mark on the landscape. Quaker meeting houses are generally characterised by simplicity of design, both externally and internally, reflecting the form of worship they were designed to accommodate. The earliest purpose-built meeting houses were built by local craftsmen following regional traditions and were on a domestic scale, frequently resembling vernacular houses; at the same time, a number of older buildings were converted to Quaker use. From the first, most meeting houses shared certain characteristics, containing a well-lit meeting hall with a simple arrangement of seating. In time a raised stand became common behind the bench for the Elders, so that travelling ministers could be better heard. Where possible, a meeting house would provide separate accommodation for the women’s business meetings, and early meeting houses may retain a timber screen, allowing the separation (and combination) of spaces for business and worship. In general, the meeting house will have little or no decoration or enrichment, with joinery frequently left unpainted. Ancillary buildings erected in addition to a meeting house could include stabling and covered spaces such as a gig house; caretaker’s accommodation; or a school room or adult school. Throughout the C18 and early C19 many new meeting houses were built, or earlier buildings remodelled, with ‘polite’, Classically-informed designs appearing, reflecting architectural trends more widely. However, the buildings were generally of modest size and with minimal ornament, although examples in urban settings tended to be more architecturally ambitious. After 1800, it became more common for meeting houses to be designed by an architect or surveyor. The Victorian and Edwardian periods saw greater stylistic eclecticism, though the Gothic Revival associated with the Established Church was not embraced; on the other hand, Arts and Crafts principles had much in common with those of the Quakers, and a number of meeting houses show the influence of that movement. The C20 saw changes in the way meeting houses were used which influenced their design and layout. In 1896 it was decided to unite men’s and women’s business, so separate rooms were no longer needed, whilst from the mid-1920s ministers were not recorded, and consequently stands were rarely provided in new buildings. Seating was therefore rearranged without reference to the stand, with moveable chairs set in concentric circles becoming the norm in smaller meeting houses. By the interwar years, there was a shift towards more flexible internal planning, together with the provision of additional rooms for purposes other than worship, reflecting the meeting house’s community role – the need for greater contact with other Christians and a more active contribution within the wider world had been an increasing concern since the 1890s. Traditional styles continued to be favoured, from grander Classical buildings in urban centres to local examples in domestic neo-Georgian. During the mid-C17, Quakers in the area around Thakeham parish were meeting in Friends’ houses. Initially they were hosted by John Snashold, and meetings went on to be held in the houses of John Shaw of Shipley, and William Penn who lived in nearby Warminghurst. Penn, who had become a Quaker in the late-1660s, had developed a close relationship with George Fox and it was their collaboration that ‘created a coherent Quaker philosophy’ (Geiter 2004). Although pursuing his political career and spending a number of years in America whilst establishing the colony of Pennsylvania, Penn was involved in the early stages of founding the Thakeham meeting and finding a permanent place there for meeting for worship. In the early-1690s a farmhouse called ‘Little Slatters’ with just over an acre of land was purchased from John Shaw for £20. The timber-framed farmhouse had been built in about 1580, and was converted into a meeting house by the removal of part of the upper storey of the south range, leaving a gallery overlooking the main meeting room. A new staircase and a tall window were inserted, as was a small Elders’ Stand. The work cost £53 and was completed by 1693. A burial ground was established alongside. The meeting was discontinued in 1791 but was re-established in 1874 (the building, and its Meeting, had come to be known as ‘Blue Idol’ from at least 1869). Improvements in the later-C19 included inserting new heating, whilst the north range of the building became a caretaker’s house that was extended in 1893. The building was in poor condition when three Young Friends camps were held in 1919, 1920 and 1923 to make repairs. The caretaker's house in the north range was used as a guest-house from 1923 and was further extended in 1934-1935 to the design of noted Quaker architect Hubert Lidbetter. Late-C20 improvements include the fur0001
• uprns: 200004795293