Saffron Walden
About the Meeting
Though Quakers have been meeting on the same site since 1676 the site was rebuilt in the 1870s and the building has been remodelled in the 1960s. Adjustments have been made since to keep facilities up to modern standards.
There are normally 25 to 30 people meeting on a Sunday and we run a children’s meeting on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Sundays of the month but have facilities available at other times.
The Meeting House is in a central position and has step free access to the ground floor rooms, where we meet on a Sunday and an accessible toilet which will soon be fully DDA compliant.
The upper rooms, including where the children meet, are only accessible via stairs.
The Meeting House is centrally located but parking is very limited in the close vicinity.
For more on the location and car parks please see end of page.
If you would like to know more about hiring our rooms click on the button below.
The Children and Young People’s Quaker Meeting
is held upstairs, on the first 3 Sundays of each month, for about 40 minutes. It is mainly, but not exclusively, attended by children of 13 years and under. (Information for teenagers is below.)
There is a warm welcome, followed by a themed hands-on activity, rooted in equality, truth, simplicity, sustainability. Talking and listening with care and light-hearted attention is encouraged.
The Meeting is facilitated by two adults, one of whom is ‘DBS checked’. Parents are welcome.
For 5 or so minutes we join the adult Meeting downstairs. After Meeting, soft drinks and biscuits are shared in the tea room. There is a garden for all.
For teenagers…there are events organised by Friends House national office in Euston, London. They are at a variety of venues across the Regions. They’re innovative, dynamic, co-operative and friendly. See www.yqspace.org.uk
Active locally since 1676
Quakers have been meeting on the same site in the heart of the ancient market town since 1676. Originally meeting in a room behind three cottages the site has been developed over the centuries and now has a unified frontage and large rooms including the 100 person capacity Large Meeting Room with doors out into the burial ground.
Our burial ground is open for visitors and you may notice that our gravestones are all of uniform size and layout, another witness to equality.
Graves of particular interest belong to George Stacey Gibson who was an eminent business man, philanthropist and mayor and Daniel Hack Tuke who was an eminent psychotherapist and author of many of the foundational books on the subject.
A portrait of George Stacey Gibson
Quaker meetings
Every Sunday
10:30 – 11:30am
We also open for quiet reflection every Good Friday between 10.00 and 12.00 am
and every Christmas day between 10.30 and 11.00am
Quaker Meeting House
High Street
Saffron Walden
CB10 1AA
Contact
telephone: 01799 521832
email: ask@saffronquakers.org.uk
Find us
Parking
There is limited on street parking near the Meeting House and though you may be lucky to find a space in the roads behind (Margaret Way and Gibson Close).
There is plenty of parking in Swan Meadow Car park or the council Offices on London Road which are open to the public on Sundays.