Southampton Local Quaker Meeting

Friends Meeting House
1a Ordnance Road
Southampton
Hampshire
SO15 2AZ
                                          Details and contacts are below.

A video of the presentation in Southampton during Quaker Week 2011 "A history of non-violence - the Quaker legacy" is here (new page).

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This is a wide-ranging discussion group (aimed at those aged 18-40) intended for those who are interested in Quaker beliefs, spiritual possibilities, moral issues and practical activities.

We meet on the second Sunday of most months, from 12.15 to 1.45 p.m.

Contact Christelle Blunden or Luke Blunden.

Details of current and past programmes are on a new page here.

The current programme is in the poster on the right (click the poster to enlarge it on a new page).

 
Days and Times of Meetings for Worship: every Sunday at 10.45 a.m.
Children's Meeting: every Sunday, plus Junior Young Friends on 2nd and 4th Sunday in the month

Directions: On foot - 3/4 mile from Railway Station       (Click on small map for a larger MAP)

Contact: Clerk: Ruth Heine here
Concerning the Meeting House: Tel. 023 80223758 or for lettings email Progressive Lettings.

About Us: We are an active Meeting (usually about 50 people attend on Sundays) with a wide age range and a variety of interests.
In addition to the Children's Meeting and the Junior Young Friends, the Prime Group (ages 18 to 40ish) meets monthly for lunch followed by discussion (see the box above for details and a link to programmes).
There are also worship and study groups held in Friends' homes and a Healing Group once a month before Meeting for Worship.

The Meeting House, built in 1884, is used during the week by a number of local organisations.
... More history below.

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Southampton Quakers are much involved in local peace action and in interchurch and interfaith activities such as the Southampton Council of Faiths.

QUAKERS IN SOUTHAMPTON

George Fox, the founder of the Quaker movement, came to Southampton in 1655. One of the earliest Southampton Quakers was George Embree. He lived in the parish of All Saints and early Quaker Meetings were held at his house. In defiance of the Conventicle Act, Quakers held their Meetings openly. Between 1657 and 1666 some sixty Friends were persecuted, a third of them women.

George Embree died in September 1678 and left a legacy to Southampton Friends which still survives. He had bought a piece of land known as the 'cabbidge plot' on the road leading to Winchester and presented it to the Meeting in 1662 as a burial ground, since when it has been in continual use, and is now the only private burial ground in Southampton.

After the passing of the Toleration Act in 1689, Friends began to think about building a Meeting House. Eventually they found a site in Castle Lane and built a Meeting House with a yard for tethering horses. During the eighteenth century, the number of Quakers in Southampton declined and the Castle Lane Meeting House fell into disuse. By the early nineteenth century the population of Southampton was increasing rapidly as more people were moving into the town. Two Friends, William Colson Westlake and Joseph Ball advanced money for a new Meeting House in Castle Square which continued in use from 1822 to 1884.

By 1880 the town was extending rapidly northwards and the Meeting House was described as 'situate in a degraded part of the town'. The decision was taken to build a new Meeting House in Ordnance Road, conveniently close to the burial ground in the Avenue. The architect was instructed to design 'something between a chapel, a mission room and a club building'. The Quakers in 1884 sought to provide a building which would serve the needs of the Meeting well into the twentieth century, which it has done.

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