Reading Quaker Meeting House - Buildings we Love

Simple Quaker architecture, a peaceful garden and burial ground - and an exhibition on buildings we love.

Open 10.00 till 16.30. Free refreshments

Visitors to the Meeting House in the centre of Reading find here a strikingly spacious and peaceful interior. The emphasis on functionality over ostentation is seen in the original features, such as the minister's gallery, sounding cove and remains of a partition mechanism. It is a building which truly speaks of the Quaker values of peace, simplicity and equality, which continue to this day.

Quakers have been in Reading since the 1650s, meeting at first in private houses : the first meeting house on the present site in Church Street was built in 1715, and the present one was bult in 1835. Also on this site, which once was an ancient orchard, is a tranquil burial ground and garden. The uniform rows of simple grave-stones and absence of grand monuments symbolise the equality of all people. This includes the Victorian Quakers who made an enormous contribution to the industrial, social and political life of the town, such as the Huntley and Palmer families - and the Waterhouse family, including the celebrated Victorian architect Alfred Waterhouse.

There will be a talk at 11.00 on Quakers in Reading, and at 14.00 on Alfred Waterhouse and his contribution both locally and nationally. An exhibition of photographs and artwork by Reading Quakers will take the theme 'Buildings We Love'.