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St Thomas the Apostle's Church (now New Testament Church of God),
141-143 Fishponds Road, BS5 6PR,
Eastville, Fishponds, 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 1889, but we understand it was closed in 1977.

Eastville suburb is bounded by the River Frome on the west, the parish of Fishponds to the north east, and by Easton to the south. Its first mention by John Latimer, in The Annals of Bristol in the Nineteenth Century (1887) is in 1871, when a tramway from Old Market Street to St. George's, with a branch to Eastville, was constructed. The Clifton Extension of the Midland Railway passed through Eastville, over a viaduct of 13 arches, to join the main Bristol to Birmingham line at Kingswood Junction, but it does not appear to have had its own station. It was formed into a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1889, created from the parish of Fishponds.

The Satellite view of St Thomas shows a large building, with the main body of the Church aligned in a north-west to south-east direction, and transepts to the rear. The transepts and choir were built first, in 1889, to be followed in 1903 by the nave. The architect was H.C.M. Hirst.

In 1969, the west four bays were screened off to form a hall, and rooms on two floors; however by 1976, the building was found to be suffering from wood rot, so on 1st June 1977 it was closed. Consequently, its parish was merged with that of St Anne, in St Leonard's Road, and in the following year its building taken over by "other Christian bodies". Then finally, in or before 1979, it became home of the New Testament Church of God. [Sources: Phil Draper's ChurchCrawler and Church Commissioners Report on Pastoral and Closed Churches in Bristol Diocese, on the Church of England websites]

Denomination

Now or formerly Church of England.

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 ST6128775024. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Thomas the Apostle's Church (now New Testament Church of God), Eastville, Fishponds shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Fishponds 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 Eastville, Fishponds, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• The Church officiando's “Bible” - Phil Draper's ChurchCrawler (null) (verified 2018-10-16)
• The Church Commissioners Report on Pastoral and Closed Churches, found on the Church of England (null) (verified 2018-10-04)

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.