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Emmanuel Church,
Guthrie Road,
Clifton, 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 1866, but we understand it was closed in 1974.

John Latimer, in The Annals of Bristol in the Nineteenth Century (1887) records that Emmanuel Church, Clifton, was opened on 18th December 1866 - "its erection having occupied less than thirteen months". It was enlarged in 1868, and consecrated by the bishop of the diocese on 7th January 1869. "A lofty tower was added subsequently - in which a peal of eight bells was placed in September, 1884". A spire had been intended, but funds had not been forthcoming.

Kelly's Directory of Bristol of 1902 records a separate ecclesiastical parish of Emmanuel was created in 1869, from Christ Church parish. "The church, in Guthrie Road, is a cruciform structure of local stone, relieved with Bath stone dressings and bands of red sandstone, in the Early English style... it consists of chancel with lateral chapels, nave, aisles, transepts, western narthex porch and a tower on the north side, 108 feet in height, and containing 8 bells cast by Taylor & Co. of Loughborough". The lower stage of the tower forms a porch. The chancel has a handsome reredos and nine stained windows. The living was then a vicarage, in the gift of Simeon's trustees, and had been held since 1901 by the Rev. Thomas Alfred Gurney LL.B. M.A. of St John's College, Cambridge.

The Church was declared redundant in 1974 - recorded in the Church Commissioners Report on Pastoral and Closed Churches, on the Church of England website on 14th November that year. Then in 1976, it was disposed of to "Housing Associations" involving "part use/part demolition". In the present day, the tower remains, whilst the remainder of the building has been converted into a series of flats. The windows facing Guthrie Road are arranged in five bays each with five windows, between which can be seen the original red sandstone walls - presumably a design which echoes the line, and the number of bays, of the original church - quite a tasteful conversion.

Denomination

Now or formerly Church of England.

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 ST5713373979. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Emmanuel Church, Clifton, 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 Clifton, Bristol, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• The Church Commissioners Report on Pastoral and Closed Churches, found on the Church of England (null) (verified 2018-10-04)

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.