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Ebenezer Methodist Chapel (later Christadelphian Hall),
Orchard Street (now 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 in 1849, but we understand it was closed by 1950.

This is an interesting building. Amazingly, against a background of so many places of worship in Bristol which were either bombed during WWII, or have become derelict since then, it has survived. It was labelled on the Bristol Town Maps of 1885 as "Ebenezer Chapel", and had seating for 250, but is now the home of the Bristol Cycle Shack, providing cycle sales, hire and repairs, and has been well cared for. The exterior certainly has an impact, as it is bedecked with old advertising signs - "Players Please", "Nugget Boot Polish", "Colman's Mustard", Wills' "Gold Flake" Cigarettes, Fry's Chocolate, "Camp Coffee", and others.

Underneath the hoarding is a rectangular building, of stone, with a central round-arched doorway, outlined in a chevron pattern, on either side of which are 2 round-arched windows, with a similar chevron surround. Above the doorway is a large venetian-style window, with two narrower windows on either side of it. The panes of each window are composed of circular lights, stacked one above the other - most unusual.

It is situated on the south side of Orchard Street (then a continuation south-east of Midland Road), between its junctions with Horton Street and Midland Street (previously known as Albert Street), and is shown on Old Maps from 1884. By 1951 it had apparently closed for worship and was labelled as a "Hall".

Steve Bulman, in the Bristol section of his Churches of Britain and Ireland website, notes that it was founded in 1849, and was supposedly Bristol's first Primitive Methodist Chapel.

The following notice in The London Gazette of 25th September 1863 (p.4652) recorded its registration for marriages:

NOTICE is hereby given, that a separate building, named Ebenezer Primitive Methodist Chapel, situate at Orchard-street, 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 14th day of September, 1863, duly registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to the Act of the 6th and 7th Wm. IV., cap. 85. Dated 15th September 1863.

A similar notice, cancelling the registration as of 11th July, was published in the Gazette of 18th July 1950 (p.3710). In, or before 1952, the building was taken over by the Christadelphians.

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 Chapel was located at OS grid reference ST5990873005. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Ebenezer Methodist Chapel (later Christadelphian Hall), 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.

• Steve Bulmer's excellent website devoted to Churches of Britain and Ireland (null) (verified 2018-10-04)
• 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.