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Bethesda Methodist Church,
138A Church Road / Avonvale Road, BS5 9HH,
Redfield, 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 in 1869, and we understand it is still open.

It is quite unexpected to find the rather grand building which today's Bethesda was once the Sunday School! It is situated on the south-west corner of the junction of Church Road with Avondale Road, and replaced the original building in 1999, which was forced to close because of structural problems. It was situated on the opposite (south-east) corner of the junction, and according to Phil Draper's ChurchCrawler website was built on land known as "Lyppiatts Leaze", and which was donated by William Stone, a hay and straw dealer, who lived in Redfield House. The Sunday School was built 12 years later, again on land donated by Stone, and was of a matching style. Phil has photographs of the two buildings side by side, and if anything, the Sunday School looks larger!

The following notice in The London Gazette of 30th January 2001 (p.1168) records its re-registration for marriages:

A Building certified for worship named BETHESDA METHODIST CHURCH, Church Road, Redfield, Bristol in the registration district of Bristol, in the non-metropolitan county of Bristol, was on 17th January 2001, registered for solemnising therein pursuant to section 41 of the Marriage Act 1949, as amended by section 1(1) of the Marriage Acts Amendment Act 1958. In lieu of the Bethesda Chapel, Redfield, now disused and the registration cancelled thereof. Dated 24th January 2001.

A similar notice in the Gazette of 11th November 1879 (p.6370) recorded its original registration.

Denomination

Now or formerly Free/United 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 ST6156773500. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Bethesda Methodist Church, Redfield, 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 Redfield, Bristol, 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.