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Sea Mills Methodist Church,
140 Shirehampton Road, BS9 2DY,
Sea Mills, Henbury, 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 1930, and we understand it is still open.

Development of the Bristol suburb of Sea Mills began after the First World War on land given by Philip Napier Miles (1865-1935), a wealthy local philanthropist, to build "homes fit for heroes".

Its design followed the principles of the "garden-city movement", and to the present day, restrictive covenants still apply.

Sea Mills Methodist Church occupies a focal point at the centre of the development - typically a concentric arrangement, with radial boulevards, though in the case of Sea Mills, only the upper half of the circle appears to have been developed.

It was designed by Sir George Oatley, and opened in 1930. Both the Church, and its Church Hall, are listed in Places recorded by the Registrar General under the provisions of the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 (2010)

The following notice in The London Gazette of 28th February 1933 (p.1374) recorded its registration for marriages:

A Separate Building, duly certified for religious worship, named METHODIST CHURCH, situated at Sea Mills, in the civil parish of Bristol, in Bristol registration district, in the county borough of Bristol, was, on the 20th February, 1933, registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to 6 & 7 Will. IV, c.85. Dated the 23rd February, 1933.

It is a large building, having 3 groups of 3 round-arched windows in the front, with a wide projecting porch, originally with an entrance at either end. Recently, however the right entrance has been bricked up, and part of the building has been made over to Abona Court, a development of retirement homes, which grew out of a partnership between the Methodist Church, and MHA - the Methodist Housing Association, founded in 1943 by the Methodist Church. There is more information about, and a photograph of Sea Mills Methodist Church and Abona Court on the Geograph website.

Note: 'Abona' is the name given to the Roman port on the Estuary of the River Avon near to where Sea Mills is now.

Denomination

Now or formerly 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 is located at OS grid reference ST5513076845. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Sea Mills Methodist Church, Sea Mills, Henbury shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Henbury 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 Sea Mills, Henbury, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• You may like to see photograph(s) of Sea Mills Methodist Church and Abona Court on the Geograph website.
• 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.