Morley Church (Demolished), Fishponds, Gloucestershire, Church History

Gloucestershire Places of Worship

Default Image We do not have an Image of this Place of Worship as it has been Demolished

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

Morley Church (Demolished), Fishponds

Morley Church (Demolished),
Lodge Causeway / Mayfield Avenue / Ivy Lane,
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 1970.

This place of worship is shown on Old Maps of 1903 as a long narrow building adjacent to Mayfield Avenue, facing Lodge Causeway, with a Sunday School adjacent to Ivy Lane. By 1951-1952 it appears that the two buildings had been joined at the rear, to create a large, almost square building, occupying the whole block between Ivy Lane and Mayfield Avenue.
A block of apartments now occupies the site, named "Mayfield Court". It is built of red brick, to an elegant modern design, but with a decorative turret on top, having a conical 'roof' topped by a finial. One wonders whether this was part of the design, or a tribute to the Chapel that once stood on its footprint - there is a photograph on Phil Draper's ChurchCrawler website, and he poses the same question.
Phil records the Chapel was built in 1889 "and named after Samuel Morley M.P. for Bristol 1868-1885". He describes it as a cruciform building designed by Frank Wills "in his typical style with lancet windows", having a gallery inside, and seating for 400 people. By 1970 there were severe structural problems, so in the absence of funds for repairs, the building was closed, and its members joined Argyle Congregational Church (now Argyle Morley United Reformed Church), in Whitfield Road.
The following notice in The London Gazette of 19th January 1981 (p.766) formally recorded its closure:
The Registrar General, being satisfied that UNITED REFORMED CHURCH, formerly MORLEY MEMORIAL CHURCH, The Causeway, Fishponds, in the registration district of Bristol in the Non-Metropolitan County of Avon, is no longer used as a place of worship by the congregation on whose behalf it was on 11th April 1891 registered for marriages, in accordance with the Marriage Act 1836 has cancelled the registration. Dated 12th January 1981.

Denomination

Now or formerly 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 was located at OS grid reference ST6345875042. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

Morley Church (Demolished), 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 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)
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.

Information last updated on 14 Feb 2014 at 13:50.

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This Report was created 5 Feb 2025 - 21:46:43 GMT from information held in the Gloucestershire section of the Places of Worship Database. This was last updated on 13 Oct 2021 at 14:13.

URL of this page: https://churchdb.gukutils.org.uk/GLS1589.php

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