The first Quaker Meeting House was on the north side of what is now Colliton Street, Dorchester, when that street was known as Pease Lane. It was a cottage, purchased by the Quakers in 1712 for £44.8s.0d and needing some alteration. It had a nearby burial ground where 8 Quakers were buried between 1715 and 1739. The Meeting House was repaired in 1723 and a larger room for meetings created, work that was overseen by William Herbert on behalf of the Quarterly (Regional) Meeting. He was a very diligent Weymouth Quaker.
Numbers must have fallen quite rapidly, and Dorchester Meeting closed in 1740, but a small Meeting continued in Charminster. One Quarterly Meeting a year was still held in Dorchester until 1749 but was so poorly attended that it was then moved to Sherborne. Weymouth Meeting struggled on until William Herbert’s death in 1759.
For nearly 200 years there was no Quaker witness in Dorchester and Weymouth until the 1940s, when a small group of Dorchester Quakers began to meet. In 1979 their numbers had grown enough to purchase the present building in Holloway Road, Fordington. It was converted into a Quaker Meeting House, having previously been a busy public house called the Union Arms. The Weymouth Meeting members currently join with Dorchester either in person or on zoom.
To find out more information about Dorchester Quakers get in touch or come along on a Sunday morning. For more about Quakers in Britain use the links under 'Discover Quakers' below.