Listed Building record MDR13382 - Friend's Meeting House, Toadhole Furnace, Shirland and Higham

The Friends Meeting House and school were built in 1743 from coursed sandstone rubble with gritstone dressings and slate roofs. The meeting house was a single bay, single storey building to the east and the school house was two storey, single bay to the west with a flight of stone steps between the two. Over the doorway of the Meeting House there is a lintel inscribed 'Matthew Hopkinson 1743'. (1) The former Friends Meeting House is a small building of squared stone with a slate roof, formerly thatched, built in 1743. A stable with women's meeting-house above of the later 18th century, similarly constructed, stands to the west separated from the main building by an external stair to the gallery. The north front has a doorway with a deep lintel inscribed 'Matthew Hopkinson 1743' and a small two-light window to the left with a square mullion. The south wall has a small blocked window near the centre, and further east a large window has been inserted in the 19th century. The interior (24ft by 14.5ft) has two exposed beams supporting a deep gallery the front of which is closed by fielded panelled shutters. (2)