Friends of the Ipswich Unitarian Meeting House

The Ipswich Unitarian Meeting House was built in 1699 and is a Grade One listed building. It is beautifully reflected in the black glass windows of the Grade One-listed Willis Towers Watson building in Ipswich town centre. 

Lovers of the Meeting House, Ipswich’s heritage and history generally, have come together to form a Friends group for the Unitarian Meeting House, with the aim of promoting the building and its history, ensuring the survival of this historic gem and its sustainability for generations to come.  Join Us.

NEWS and EVENTS:

EXCITING NEWS: Stuck for a gift? We now have gift vouchers! Click here for more details

Dates for your diary:

Thursday 12th January 2023 at 7pm. ‘Ipswich’s Medieval Churches and their Hidden Stories – including that of the Town’s Dissenters’ a talk by John Field and John Warren. Includes the first Annual General Meeting of the Friends of Ipswich Unitarian Meeting House. More details click here

The Meeting House reflected in the Willis building

A Friends newsletter, social and fundraising events – keep an eye on https://iumhfriends.com/news-and-events/

The Unitarian Meeting House is available for community use for events. Please contact the Trustees for more details.

After extensive work during 2020/21 to restore the building, we were able to remove it from the Heritage At Risk Register. Services are regularly held at the Meeting House and it is available for community purposes.

The Meeting House is typical of those built by congregations of Protestant Dissenters, of timber frame, with two wooden pillars supporting the double-hipped roof. The pulpit is in the style of Grinling Gibbons and possibly carved by one of his pupils. The congregation sit in the original old box pews and there are special historic features such as wig pegs, a Dutch brass chandelier and a spy hole used in times of persecution to check for any approaching mobs before the worshippers left the building. Read more about the Meeting House’s History here.

Very many thanks for your interest and we hope you will want to join as Friends and support our special building!

Door to the Unitarian Meeting House, Friars St. Ipswich, Suffolk. North elevation, door to west.
East door detail of bracket with floral motif.
Interior of the Meeting House, with box pews and chandelier.

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.