Friends celebrating the installation of the blue plaque. Photo: Courtesy of Alton Meeting.
Blue plaque for Alton Meeting
A plaque commemorating the second oldest Meeting house in the world that is still in use, in Hampshire
Alton Friends celebrated a blue plaque installed at their Meeting house last month.
The commemoration records that the building in Hampshire is the ‘second oldest [Meeting house] in the world that is still in use’, said the Quakers. ‘The Meeting house in Alton was built in 1672 well before the Act of Toleration was passed over a decade later in 1688/89. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there were many Quaker families prominent in the town including the Curtis and Crowley families. The town museum is still known as the Curtis Museum in memory of William Curtis who was so active in establishing further education and learning within the town.’
The Meeting house was the central meeting point, not only for Quakers in the town, but also the surrounding villages, the Friends added. ‘What is now an entrance foyer and disabled toilet was once the covered area where the horses were tethered for those who came from greater distances.’
The plaque was celebrated on 26 July with a ceremony including the town mayor. Terri Hall, from Alton Meeting, told the Friend: ‘We enjoyed refreshments after the ceremony and were joined, not only by the town mayor, but an additional councillor and members of the Alton Society who are involved in the town walks which include the Meeting house and burial ground.’
The mayor also commented on the ‘calm atmosphere’ of the Meeting room.
