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St Matthew's Church (now St Matthew with St Nathanael),
Clare Road / Cotham Side, BS6 5TB,
Kingsdown, 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 1835, and we understand it is still open.

"The name Kingsdown derives from the fact that this was where, in medieval times, the King's cavalry would perform its daily drills. By the late 18th century, the area was becoming steadily gentrified as houses were being built here in what was an attractive meadow far above the smoky basin of the city…" [Quote from a most useful account of its history available on St Matthew's Bristol website]

John Latimer, in The Annals of Bristol in the Nineteenth Century (1887) records that St Matthew's, along with a number of surrounding streets, were built on a plot of land named "Mother Pugsley's field". It was so named in 1790, when Tyndall's park was sold "for conversion into an extensive crescent and the construction of some homes had begun, when war broke out, and the project collapsed". It was to be another 45 years before it was built, Latimer recording in 1835 that St Matthew's Church, Kingsdown, had just been finished, and was consecrated by Dr. Ryder, Bishop of Lichfield, on the 23rd April. "A peal of eight bells, the gift of Mr. John Bangley, a liberal contributor to the church, was subsequently placed in the tower; [and] in July, 1882, Mr. George Gay, builder, presented the parish with a handsome villa and garden in Cotham Park, for the use of the vicar and his successors".

Kelly's Directory of Bristol of 1902 records that the parish of St Matthew, Kingsdown, was formed in 1870 from the parishes of St James, St Paul Without, and Westbury on Trym. The church, "in Cotham side, erected in 1835, from designs by Thomas Rickman esq. F.S.A.", consists of nave, aisles and a western tower containing 8 bells, presented by Mr. John Rangley. The parish records date from 1870. The living was then a vicarage, in the gift of trustees, and had been held since 1901 by the Rev. Frederick Glanvill.

Denomination

Now or formerly Church of England.

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 ST5875674072. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Matthew's Church (now St Matthew with St Nathanael), Kingsdown, 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 Kingsdown, Bristol, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• You may want to visit St Matthew's Bristol website for present-day information.

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.