Civil registration has literally taken over from the church here. In 1670 the Quakers of Bristol built the first meeting house on this site. William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, married Bristolian Hannah Callowhill there in 1696. The building was considered beyond repair by 1747, so a new meeting house was created by the Quaker carpenter George Tully. It is simple and serene, in keeping with Quaker principles. The interior was re-modelled in the 1960s.