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Longwell Green Methodist Church,
12 Shellards Road,
Longwell Green, Oldland, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Church did NOT have a graveyard.

Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded in 1823, but we understand it was closed by 1987.

Non-Conformist Chapels and Meeting Houses, Gloucestershire (1986) describe this former Wesleyan chapel (in Shellards Road) as having a three-bay gabled front with later porch; opened in 1823, and transferred to the Free Methodists about 1870. The Free Methodists already had a Chapel of their own in Bath Road, but they appear to have wanted the Shellards Road building as a Sunday School, as that is what is indicated on OS 1904-1916. By OS 1948-1966, however, the roles were reversed, and the building in Shellards Road became the "Church" (or, on OS 1968 1:2,500 "Longwell Green Methodist Church"), whilst the former Free Methodist Chapel became the Sunday-school... all in all, quite a complex timeline to follow.

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/327/2/2/23) indicates discord at an earlier period. There was no service held on March 30, there being "no hearers at present in consequence of a secession". This was for the "Wesleyan Methodist Chapel" in "Longwell Green in the Parish of Bitton", which was erected "about 1845", and had a Sunday School Room attached. It had free sittings for 100 and 50 "other" sittings, with an average congregation over the last 12 months of 50 worshippers at afternoon and evening service. The return was completed by Charles Clay, its Minister, of "Kingswood near Bristol". He also completed the return for "Cock Road Day and Sunday School", in Cock Road (now Cock Road Methodist Church).

The latter is still open, but the following notice in The London Gazette of 26th March 1987 (p.4101) indicates the closure of the Longwell Green Church:

The Registrar General, being satisfied that LONGWELL GREEN METHODIST CHAPEL, 12 Shellard Road, Longwell Green, Oldland, in the registration district of Bristol in the Non-Metropolitan County of Avon is no longer used as a place of worship by the congregation on whose behalf it was on 12th January 1960 registered for marriages in accordance with the Marriage Act 1949 (as amended) has cancelled the registration. Dated 11th March 1987.

It is probable that its former congregation would have joined with the Anglican congregation of All Saints Church, as a similar notice, also of 11th March 1987 was published to indicate All Saints had been registered for solemnizing marriages. Thereafter (I assume) the Methodist Church was sold, and passed into secular use.

Denomination

Now or formerly Wesleyan Methodist.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Church was located at OS grid reference ST6584371124. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Longwell Green Methodist Church, Longwell Green, Oldland shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Oldland shown on a Google Map.
• Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
• Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
• OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
• A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
• www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)

Resources

I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for Longwell Green, Oldland, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• Notices of Civil Registration of Places of Worship for marriages are published in the London edition of The Gazette. Hint: search for registrations from 1998 by choosing 'Church' notices, and the option 'Registration for solemnising marriage'. (verified 2018-12-11)

The above links were selected and reviewed at the time I prepared the information, but please be aware their content may vary, or disappear entirely. These factors are outside my control.