Default Image We do not have a
Photograph at present.
Image by courtesy of
openclipart.org

Catholic Apostolic Church (now Nativity of the Mother of God),
University Road, BS8 1SP,
Tyndalls Park, 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 in 1891, but we understand it was closed in 1967.

This former Catholic Apostolic Church was built between 1888 and 1893, to designs by architect Henry Rising.

It was the third, and final building to be erected in Bristol for the Church, whose followers were commonly known as "Irvingites". The Irvingite, or Holy Catholic Apostolic Church, was founded by a group of twelve "Apostles", led by the Rev. Edward Irving, a Scottish clergyman. The group also included Henry Drummond, a banker and politician, Francis Sitwell, and Thomas Carlysle, a Scottish lawyer. The movement later spread to the United States, Germany, and Sweden, though it has been said that since the death of the last apostle, Francis Valentine Woodhouse, in 1901, the movement has declined.

Their first building in Bristol was "St Mary on the Quay", erected 1839-43 to the designs of R.S. (Richard Shackleton) Pope; however the promoters ran into financial difficulties, and as a consequence it was sold to the Roman Catholics before completion.

Evidently, further funds became available later in the century, as Old Maps of 1885-1886 show a Catholic Apostolic Church in a street then named Upper Berkeley Place (now Byron Place). According to Bristol and Its Environs (1875), published by the British Association, it was an iron church, erected in 1867. Presumably it was never intended as a permanent home, but it was to be another 20 years before the building which now stands in University Road was begun. It was designed by Henry Rising, and was evidently completed by 1891, as the following notice in The London Gazette of 27th February 1891 (p.1135) records its registration for marriages:

NOTICE is hereby given, that a separate building, named Catholic Apostolic Church, situate at University College-road, in the parish of St. Michael, in the city of Bristol, in the district of Bristol, being a building certified according to law as a place of religious worship, was, on the 24th day of February, 1891, duly registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to the Act of 6th and 7th Wm. 4, cap. 85. Dated 24th February, 1891.

In 1967, it was leased to the Eastern Orthodox Church, with a notice in the Gazette of 5th November 1968 (p.1181) formally recording that it was no longer used as a place of worship by the congregation on whose behalf it was originally registered. It was then still named "CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CHURCH", but is now dedicated to the Nativity of the Mother of God.

Denomination

Now or formerly Roman Catholic.

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 ST5799473254. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Catholic Apostolic Church (now Nativity of the Mother of God), Tyndalls Park, 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 Tyndalls Park, Bristol, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• 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.