Default Image Place of Worship has been
Demolished.
Image by courtesy of
openclipart.org

Blind Asylum Chapel (Demolished),
Queen's Road, BS8,
Tyndalls Park, Bristol, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Chapel 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 1838, but we understand it was closed before 1904.

"The Bristol Asylum, or, School of Industry for the Blind, situated at the top of Park-street, is a handsome pile of buildings in the early English style of architecture, well adapted in all its departments for the industry therein taught in the manufacture of various articles of household requirements... It has about 50 pupils, of both sexes, who are employed chiefly in basket and mat making. The pupils are also taught reading by embossed Roman character, singing, organ, pianoforte, &c., and every Monday afternoon assemble in the music room for the performance of sacred music, when strangers are admitted free. The religious and moral culture of the pupils receives careful consideration... The Blind Asylum Chapel, top of Park-street, is a beautiful erection, and the service in this church is admirably chanted by the pupils of the Blind Asylum". [Extract from Webster & Co.'s Postal and Commercial Directory of the City of Bristol, and County of Glamorgan, 1865]

Its history is described by John Latimer, in The Annals of Bristol in the Nineteenth Century (1887). The asylum was founded in 1792 by a few Quaker philanthropists, the manager and secretary being Messrs. Fox and Bath. Until 1803 it was located in a disused Quaker meeting-house in Callowhill Street; but the building was sold, and the asylum moved to Lower Maudlin Street, where it remained until a new building was erected at the top of Park Street. Latimer describes it as "adjoining the intended Red Maids' School", but the latter never appears to have been built.

A chapel was included in the building for use of the inmates, and also to serve as a chapel of ease to St Michael's. It was opened on the 20th November, 1838.

Sadly, since then, the Asylum and its chapel have been demolished. The building came up for sale in 1905 and it was purchased on behalf of the University College of Bristol, the chief benefactors being the Wills and Fry families. Its site is now occupied by arguably the most famous of Bristol's landmarks - the Wills Memorial Building, or the Bristol University Tower, housing the bell known as "Great George".

Next door is Bristol Museum, another building in the gift of the Wills family. A plaque above the entrance reads: "The Gift of Sir William Henry Wills, Bart. to his Fellow Citizens, 1904".

Denomination

Now or formerly Hospital Chapel.

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 Chapel was located at OS grid reference ST5811373179. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Blind Asylum Chapel (Demolished), Tyndalls Park, Bristol shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Bristol 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)