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Mangotsfield & Castle Green United Reformed Church,
Cossham Street,
Mangotsfield, 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 in 1808, and we understand it is still open.

Mangotsfield and Castle Green United Reformed Church is built of dark stone, with lighter dressings, similar to that of St James's Church, a short distance away. It has a central round-arched doorway, on either side of which are tall round-arched windows, with radial glazing. Above the door is a band of stonework carved with the letters "Tabernacle", and there is a dedication plaque in the gable above, which reads "Built 1827 / Enlarged / 1858".

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/327/2/1/12) for the chapel, which then had no name, describes a separate building, erected in 1827 for an Independent congregation, and used exclusively as a place of worship. It had 120 free, and 25 "other" sittings, and had an average congregation of 40 in the morning and 60 to evening service, with morning and afternoon Sunday School attended by 80 and 100 scholars respectively. The return was completed by William Moon, who lived at "Sussex St, St Phillips, Bristol". He styled himself "Minister for the day", and remarked that "This Chapel is supplied by agents from the Bristol Itinerant Society free of Expence".

In fact, the congregation's origins may be traced earlier than this, to 'Cottage Meetings', which began in Mangotsfield in 1808. In 1816, Revd. William Thorp, Minister of Castle Green Congregational Church in Bristol, formed a Church; and in 1827 the first permanent building was erected. Its rebuilding in 1858 may have been due to the enthusiasm of Handel Cossham, the well-known colliery owner, and local benefactor, who became interested in the Church's activities.

In more recent years, the wheel has turned full circle, as following on from the closure of Castle Green Church (Greenbank) in 2008, the two congregations are once again united - see Mangotsfield and Castle Green United Reformed Church website for more information.

Denomination

Now or formerly Independent/Congregational.

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 ST6650976177. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Mangotsfield & Castle Green United Reformed Church, Mangotsfield shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Mangotsfield 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 Mangotsfield, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• You may want to visit Mangotsfield and Castle Green United Reformed Church website for present-day information.

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.