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

Unity Brethren Chapel (Demolished),
Unity Street / Midland Road,
St Philip, 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 by 1869, but we understand it was closed by 1954.

Old Maps show the Chapel was situated on the south-west corner of the junction of Unity Street and Midland Road. The following notice in The London Gazette of 30th April 1869 (p.2561) recorded its registration for marriages:

NOTICE is hereby given, that a separate building, named Unity Chapel, situate at Whipping Cat Hill, in the parish of St. Philip and Jacob, in the city and county of Bristol, in the district of Clifton, being a building certified according to law as a place of religious worship, was, on the 27th day of April, 1869, duly registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to the Act of 6th and 7th Wm. IV., cap. 85. Dated 28th April 1869.

"Whipping Cat Hill" is an intriguing street-name! According to the street index in Kelly's Directory of Bristol of 1914, it ran between West Street and Orchard Street, in the parish/district of St Philip. From this, I have concluded it was the portion of the present Midland Road between West Street and its junction with Unity Street. It is not mentioned in the street directory itself, but in Kelly's Directory of 1902, Midland Road is described as "otherwise called Whipping Cathill & the Batch", the whole running from the top of Old Market Street to Clarke Street. Orchard Street itself is not mentioned - presumably by then it had been absorbed into Midland Road.

A corresponding notice, in the Gazette of 2nd March 1954 (p.1328) relating to "UNITY CHAPEL, Midland Road" cancelled the registration of 27th April 1869, thus tying in with the original notice. Since then, the building has been demolished, and its site is now a car park.

Denomination

Now or formerly Christian Brethren.

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 ST5984873095. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Unity Brethren Chapel (Demolished), St Philip, 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 Philip, 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.