Heritage Open Day: Visit the Victorian Quaker Meeting House (1884) to view and discuss its history and design We know that the first Quaker meeting house in Southampton was a private home because it was mentioned in court proceedings in 1660. Between 1657 and 1666 some 60 Friends were prosecuted (a third of them women) for holding their own meetings for worship not in a church.
After the passing of the Toleration Act in 1689, Quakers built a registered Meeting House in Castle Lane in 1705, then in Castle Square in 1822. As the town grew, a new Meeting House was built in 1884 conveniently close to the Quaker Burial Ground.