16 January 2006
Jordans Meeting House - restoration update
Unfortunately, the 1688 meeting house suffered a serious fire on March 10th 2005. The main meeting room, gallery and entrance lobby were the least damaged while the back of the building - including the library, warden's flat and kitchen and children's room - was completely gutted.
The premises have been made safe and are surrounded by scaffolding, which is crowned by a "tin hat", ie a corrugated iron roof to keep out the rain. The interior is being allowed to dry out and plans are being prepared for the restoration: as a grade 1 listed building it has to be put back to its former state, though Jordans Meeting hopes to be able to incorporate improvements to the facilities at the back. It would also like to have better space to display information about the heritage of Jordans. The contents of the meeting house, which include the wooden benches and furniture and the historic books and documents from the gallery, were almost undamaged by the fire and are now in safe keeping.
The restoration work, and its planning, are complex procedures and will take a long time to complete. In the meantime the Quaker Meeting for Worship takes place every Sunday at 10.30 am in Jordans Village Hall, Green West Road, Jordans Village, and anyone is welcome to come and join us.
The reconstruction will start with the roof on the main meeting house while the walls are still drying out and while plans for the rear of the building are being finalised. Contact is being maintained with the local Conservation Officer and with English Heritage regarding the plans.
We expect that the insurance will cover the cost of reinstating the building as it was. However, if improvements are made at the back the cost will increase and Friends will have to meet that extra amount. When more details are available a fund-raising campaign will be mounted.
Members of Jordans Meeting would like to thank friends everywhere for all the messages of support they have received since the fire.
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