Building record 7748 - Quaker Meeting House, Ring O'Bells Lane, Disley, Stockport

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 1231682 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Formerly 2 houses, then Ring O' Bells public house, since 1940 Quaker Meeting House and cottage: Originally C.1700 with alterations from late C18 onwards. Coursed, squared, buff sandstone rubble with Kerridge stone-slate roof and 3 stone chimneys. Long rectangular plan 2-storey, irregular 7-bay front with one blocked 2-light chamfered mullion, and horizontal sliding sashes of 8, 18 and 32 panes in plain reveals. Door towards centre with hipped C20 rubble stone porch with Welsh slate roof. Blocked door towards right with shallow hood mould. Mixture of 2 and 3-light horizontal sliding sashes and one partly-blocked 3-light mullion to rear. Interior: As late C19 beer house with a long open gallery above. One early C19 iron basket grate in partly blocked large, earlier, surround.

<2> Architectural History Practice, 2015, Quaker Meeting House, Disley (Client Report). SCH7962.

Architectural survey undertaken in 2015 for the Quaker Meeting House, Ring O'Bells Lane, Disley, Stockport. The meeting house is an early eighteenth century building (1740s), originally a dwelling, then a public house which was converted into a meeting house in the 1930s. It comprises a first floor meeting room, with a kitchen and other facilities on the ground floor.

The building was built in circa 1740 allegedly by the Leghs of nearby Lyme Hall to lodge journeymen, bell-rinngers and craftsmen with connections to the nearby St Mary's parish church. For a number of years it was known as the 'Ring O'Bells Inn', but in the mid 19th century it ceased use as a public house and, instead, Lady Newton decided to use the premises as a meeting place for local groups in the village, one being a mothers' group. In 1933 permission was obtained to used the 'Ring O'Bells' for worship and, by 1940, the Friends purchased the property from the Lyme estate.

The building, which is Grade II listed, is built of coursed, squared, buff sandstone rubble with a Kerridge stone slate roof and three stone chimneys. It is a two storey single-pile building in two parts - the meeting house to the south and wardens Cottage to the north, with the cottage under a lower roof. The large meeting room is on the first floor, with a kitchen and other facilities on the ground floor.