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

Charleton Gospel Hall (Demolished),
Charlton Street, BS5,
Lawrence Hill, Bristol, 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 1895, but we understand it was closed in 1971.

A photograph, captioned "1964 Charlton Street Charlton Gospel Hall", in Paul Townsend's Photographic Archive of Lawrence Hill & Moorfields shows a building with a three-bay front, with 2 tall round-arched windows on either side of a central doorway. There is a smaller round-arched window directly above the doorway, and above that, a semi-circular plaque, presumably recording the Hall's dedication.

The following notice in The London Gazette of 15th May 1925 (p.3314) recorded its registration for marriages:

A Separate Building, duly certified for religious worship, named CHARLETON GOSPEL HALL, situated at Charleton-street, Lawrence Hill, in the civil parish of Bristol, in the county borough of Bristol, in Bristol Registration District, was, on the 11th May, 1925, registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to 6th and 7th Wm. IV., c.85. Dated 13th May 1925.

A similar notice in the Gazette of 1st April 1971 (p.3094) recorded the cancellation of its registration.

Unfortunately, however, in spite of the building being of sufficient importance for marriages to take place in it, I have been unable to find its exact location on Old Maps. However, Paul's photograph shows it to the right of a telephone pole, so as the street still has a telephone pole, the location indicated below is next to it. In the present day, it is a car park.

Note: the Bristol & Avon Family History Society in their listing of Places of Worship Past and Present around Bristol list "Charleton Hall" with a congregation of Christian Brethren, founded in 1895. It is also mentioned in Kelly's Directories of Bristol in 1902 and 1914 - in the latter, under "Brethren", called "Charleton Temperance Hall". However the building apparently predates this, as Phil Draper's ChurchCrawler website indicates that says Charl[e]ton Hall was the first meeting place for the group of congregationalists, who later founded Barton Hill Congregational Church.

Denomination

Now or formerly Christian Brethren.

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 ST6055573133. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Charleton Gospel Hall (Demolished), Lawrence Hill, 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 Lawrence Hill, Bristol, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• What can I say? Paul Townsend's collection of photographs, old and new, of Bristol is spectacular, focussing on his Photographic Archive of Lawrence Hill & Moorfields (null) (verified 2018-11-13)
• Parish Histories, Burial data, &c. on the Bristol & Avon Family History Society (null) (verified 2018-11-04)
• 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.