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

Wesley Chapel (Demolished),
Lower Ashley Road / Mina Road,
Baptist Mills, Bristol, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

This Chapel had 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 1837, but we understand it was closed in 1970.

Kelly's Directory of Bristol of 1914 records this place of worship as "Wesley Chapel", situated between #99 and #101 in "Ashley Road, Lower", with a note that Mina Road intersects between the 2 street numbers. Phil Draper, on his ChurchCrawler website, records that it was a classical building of 1837, supposedly built on the site where John Wesley first preached. His site also has photographs, including one published in the Evening Post of 10th December 1971, showing it in a state of demolition.

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/330/4/1/10) describes Wesley Chapel as in the parish of St Philip & Jacob as erected in 1837 as a separate building, used exclusively as a place of worship by a Wesleyan Methodist congregation. There was free seating for 325, and 325 "other" sittings, and an average congregation of 250 at morning services, 50 in the afternoons, and 300 in the evenings, with 200 Sunday Scholars attending a morning class. The estimated congregation on March 30th was 70 in the morning and 92 in the evening, with 30 Sunday Scholars at a morning class, and 54 in the afternoon. The return was completed by William Hurt, who styled himself Wesleyan Minister, who lived at 2 Paul Street, Portland Square, Bristol. He explained the drop in attendance "The great difference between the average congregation for the last twelve months and the numbers attending on March 30th. attributable to a considerable secession which has lately taken place".

Evidently the Chapel's fortunes picked up again, as the Bristol Town Map of 1883-1884 indicates it had been enlarged, as there were by then seats for 2000 worshippers. It also had 2 schools - for "Boys" and "Boys & Girls", and small burial grounds at the side and rear. And it remained open for another 100 years or so, the following notice in The London Gazette of 19th February 1970 (p.2098) recording its closure:

The Registrar General, being satisfied that WESLEY CHAPEL, Baptist Mills in the registration district of Bristol in the county borough of Bristol is no longer used as a place of worship by the congregation on whose behalf it was on 5th April 1867 registered for marriages in accordance with the Marriage Act 1836 has cancelled the registration. Dated 11th February 1970.

The site now lies beneath the Junction 1 roundabout of the M32; and its former congregation now worship at Parkway Methodist Church, in Conduit Place, opened in 1972.

Denomination

Now or formerly Wesleyan 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 Chapel was located at OS grid reference ST6021274306. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Wesley Chapel (Demolished), Baptist Mills, 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 Baptist Mills, 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.