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Albany Methodist Sunday School,
Shaftesbury Avenue, BS6 5LT,
Montpelier, 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 before 1905, but we understand it was closed by 1980.

This former Sunday School is built of stone, basically rectangular, with a central entrance porch, above which is a large "gothic" window, with an inscription in its arch "Sarah Lambert Memorial Schools". There are two tall plain rectangular windows on either side of the porch, and a single-story extension on the left side. It is included in this database as only survivor of what was once a Chapel/Sunday School pair which stood next door to each another.

By 1980, the buildings had become redundant, and they were purchased by the Avon Touring Theatre Company. Following their purchase, they were offered to the Montpelier Community Association, who had recently lost their "home". One building, apparently the former Sunday School, was renovated, but by 1984, funds had run out, and the Chapel was in such poor repair that it had to be demolished.

Now, 20 years or so later (Google StreetView: May 2012) the former Sunday School is still in use by the same association, renamed in 1982 as the "Albany Centre Community Association". Their building, the Albany Centre, is described on their website as "an artist run community space dedicated to the rehearsal of circus and street theatre".

The Chapel was first shown on Old Maps of 1882-1884, originally as a Baptist Chapel, in a road then named "Albany Place" - a continuation westwards of Albany Road. At the time it was a dead-end, as Shaftesbury Avenue was yet to be built. The latter, and the Sunday School building are first shown on Old Maps of 1905, so it is assumed they were built in the intervening years.

Finally, I am grateful for the information provided in the "history and ethos" section Albany Centre (Albany Artists) website. Its assistance has been most useful in the compilation of this account.

Denomination

Now or formerly Primitive 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 was located at OS grid reference ST5956674344. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Albany Methodist Sunday School, Montpelier, 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 Montpelier, Bristol, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• “An artist run community space dedicated to the rehearsal of circus and street theatre” - the Albany Centre (Albany Artists) (null) (verified 2018-11-15)

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.