Clay Hill (Salem) Chapel (Demolished), St George, Bristol, 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

Clay Hill (Salem) Chapel (Demolished), St George, Bristol

Clay Hill (Salem) Chapel (Demolished),
Clay Hill / Chapel Lane,
St George, Bristol, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Chapel 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 1813, but we understand it was closed in 1962.

Phil Draper's ChurchCrawler website records that Clay Hill Chapel was built in 1813, and rebuilt in 1867. His account also includes a photograph, and the information that the Chapel was demolished "at Christmas in 1962".
The following notice in The London Gazette of 12th February 1963 (p.1338) recorded its formal closure:
The Registrar General, being satisfied that SALEM CHAPEL, Clay Hill, St. George, 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 1957, registered for solemnising marriages in accordance with the Marriage Acts, 1949 to 1959, has cancelled the registration. Dated 7th February 1963.
The chapel appears to have been finished in stucco, with dressings in red brick. It had two tall round-arched windows in front, on either side of a central porch - a neat little building.
The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/330/3/1/6) describes "Clay Hill Chapel" in the parish of St George with a Wesleyan Methodist congregation. It was said to be erected in 1813 as a separate building, used exclusively as a place of worship, and had seating for 100, all free. The estimated congregation on March 30th was 60 in evening, and there were Sunday School classes in the morning and afternoon, both attended by 70 pupils. The return was completed by George Hobbs, the Superintendent of the Sunday School, who lived at Clay Hill.
Perhaps the congregation afterwards joined the Wesleyan Reform movement, and later the United Methodist Free Churches, as the building is shown on Old Maps as "Salem Chapel (Free Methodist)". The early Maps (1903-1904) show it mid-way between a Brick Works, on the west side, and on the east by "Deep Pit", a Coal mine. An old Clay Pit is also marked next to the Brick Works, leading no doubt to the name "Clay Hill".

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 Chapel was located at OS grid reference ST6236074667. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

Clay Hill (Salem) Chapel (Demolished), St George, 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 St George, 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.

Information last updated on 2 Apr 2014 at 08:46.

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This Report was created 18 Nov 2024 - 23:26:54 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.

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