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

Victoria Road Methodist Church (Demolished),
Victoria Road,
St Philip's Marsh, 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 1883, but we understand it was closed in 1957.

Here is yet another "Victoria Chapel", this one distinguished as being in the St Philip's Marsh district. It is shown on the Bristol Town Plans of 1884 on the east side of Victoria Road, mid way between its junctions with Chapel Street and Stanhope Street, lying between two Iron Works - Victoria Works and Marsh Foundry. It is listed in Kelly's Directory of Bristol of 1914 as a Mission Chapel, but as it had seating for 300, it was evidently quite substantial, and at a later date it achieved full Church status.

I deduced from the fact that Maps of 1955-1967 show its site as a "Ruin" that it was destroyed during WWII; this is in fact confirmed by information about the red brick building which became their subsequent home - described as the "Chapel Street Mission" by Paul Townsend in his Photographic Archive of St Philip's Marsh.

This was the building known as "Jubilee Hall", on the north-east corner of the junction of Victoria Road with Chapel Street, which by the 1950s Maps is labelled as "Methodist Chapel". Jubilee Hall, dated 1887, was built for the Bristol City Mission, so they could have either sold, or leased it to the Methodists.

The following notice in The London Gazette of 25th September 1942 (p.4179) indicates the transfer:

A Separate Building, duly certified for religious worship, named VICTORIA ROAD METHODIST CHURCH situated at Corner of Chapel Street and Victoria Road, St. Philip's Marsh, in the civil parish of Bristol in Bristol registration district in the county borough of Bristol was on the 18th September 1942, registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to 6 & 7 Will. IV, c.85, being substituted for the Building named Methodist Chapel, situate at Victoria Road, St. Philip's Marsh, now disused. Dated 21st September 1942.

A similar notice in the Gazette of 12th August 1960 (p.5546) cancelled the registration. The Bristol Record Office hold records for "St Philip's Marsh, Victoria Road" Methodist Chapel for the period 1883-1957, suggesting approximate dates of opening, and closure.

Also of interest, on the above-mentioned website is that the Victoria Road premises was also known as the "Iron Church", and that it changed its name in the 1930s to "St Philip's Marsh Methodist Church".

Denomination

Now or formerly Wesleyan 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 ST6012472218. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Victoria Road Methodist Church (Demolished), St Philip's Marsh, 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's Marsh, Bristol, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• What can I say? Paul Townsend's collection of photographs, old and new, of Bristol is spectacular, focussing on his Photographic Archive of St Philip's Marsh (null) (verified 2018-11-13)
• 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.