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St Bonaventure's Catholic Church,
Friary Road / Egerton Road, BS7 8HP,
Bishopston, Bristol, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Church does 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 by 1891, and we understand it is still open.

It would appear from an examination of the list of Places recorded by the Registrar General under the provisions of the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 (2010) that this is one of only two churches dedicated to "St Bonaventure". The other one is in Parkway, Welwyn Garden City.

A lengthy account of (Saint) Bonaventure on Wikipedia tells us he was born in Bagnoregio, Italy as Giovanni di Fidanza" ("John of Fidanza") in 1221. He joined the Franciscan Order in 1243, and studied at the University of Paris. After a successful career, including selection in 1265 for the post of Archbishop of York, he died suddenly in 1274 - the Catholic Encyclopedia cites the chronicle of Peregrinus of Bologna, Bonaventure's secretary, saying he was poisoned. He was canonised in 1482 by the Franciscan Pope Sixtus IV.

The present building, dedicated to him in Bishopston, was built between 1900 and 1909 to designs by Pugin & Pugin. Old Maps show the land it was built on lay adjacent to Golden Hill Farm, presumably agricultural. The farm occupied the area between Bishopston and Westbury Park ("New Clifton"). The farm survived until at least 1921, but by 1938 was demolished, and its land subsumed by housing.

Maps also show a Franciscan Friary adjoining Pugin's Church. It is not clear from Maps whether this predates the church, as indeed it may have done, since a place of worship existed prior to 1900, as indicated by the following notice in The London Gazette of 9th June 1891 (p.3065):

NOTICE is hereby given, that a separate building, named Saint Bonaventures, situate at Bishopston, in the parish of Horfield, in the county of Gloucester, in the district of Barton Regis, being a building certified according to law as a place of religious worship, was, on the 5th day of June, 1891, duly registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to the Act of 6th and 7th Wm. 4, cap.85. Dated 5th June 1891.

A later notice, published in the Gazette on 19th April 1901 (p.2722) indicates "Saint Bonaventure's Roman Catholic Church, situated at Egerton-road", was registered for marriages on 11th April 1901 being substituted for a building of the same name "now disused". The Friary retained a separate existence for some years afterwards, however its buildings are now the Offices of the Catholic Diocese of Clifton.

Denomination

Now or formerly Roman Catholic.

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 is located at OS grid reference ST5858975593. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Bonaventure's Catholic Church, Bishopston, 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)

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 Bishopston, Bristol, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• A link to an article from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, on (Saint) Bonaventure (null) (verified 2018-11-22)
• Places recorded by the Registrar General under the provisions of the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 (2010) is available as a "Freedom of Information" document on the website What Do They Know. (verified 2018-10-14)
• 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.