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

Redcliffe Crescent Chapel (Demolished),
Redcliffe Crescent, York Road,
Bedminster, 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 1879, and it has since been demolished, but we don't know when.

This Chapel is marked on the Bristol Town Plans of 1884-1885 in the middle of the row of houses named "Redcliff Crescent" fronting onto York Road, overlooking the "New Cut. It was said to be Bible Christian, and with seating for 750, so evidently a large building.

Kelly's Directory of Bristol of 1902 lists it as "Redcliff Crescent Bible Christian Chapel". Unsurprisingly, since the Bible Christians united with the Methodist New Connexion and United Methodist Free Churches in 1907 to become the United Methodist Church, by 1914, it is recorded as "United Methodist Chapel".

It was preceded by a building in Princes (now Princess) Street, shown on the above Town Plans as simply a "Hall". The latter was still recorded by Kelly in 1902 as a Bible Christian Chapel, although the change of premises had taken place long before then, as indicated in the following notice in The London Gazette of 10th October 1879 (p.5838):

NOTICE is hereby given, that a separate building, named Redcliff-crescent Chapel, situate at Redcliff-crescent, in the parish of Bedminster, in the city and county of Bristol, in the district of Bedminster, being a building certified according to law as a place of religious worship, was, on the 2nd September instant, duly registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to the Act 6th and 7th Wm. 4, cap. 85, being substituted for the building known as Bible Christians Chapel, Princes-street, Bedminster, now disused. Dated 6th September 1879.

Phil Draper's ChurchCrawler notes that the building dated from 1876, but "long since demolished ... Dame Clara Butt sang here. Old Maps of 1948-1951 show its site as a "Ruin", suggesting it was destroyed during WWII, and in fact this is confirmed by Phil on his webpage of Post-Union (1932) Methodist Churches, under the heading of "Redcliffe". It was never rebuilt, but the name may survive as "Redcliffe Crescent Memorial Methodist Church" in Wingfield Road (Lower Knowle), which opened in 1956. Meanwhile, in the City, a 1960s building, in Prewett Road ("Redcliffe Methodist Church"), was built to substitute for both Redcliffe Crescent, and Langton Street Chapels, the latter also destroyed in the War.

Denomination

Now or formerly Bible Christian.

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 ST5922571896. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Redcliffe Crescent Chapel (Demolished), Bedminster, 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 Bedminster, Bristol, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• The Church officiando's “Bible” - Phil Draper's ChurchCrawler (null) (verified 2018-10-16)
• 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.