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

New Buckingham Chapel (Demolished),
Hotwell Road,
Hotwells, 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 1886, but we understand it was closed by 1970.

The position of New Buckingham Baptist Chapel can be seen on Old Maps of 1916-18. It was erected in 1903 to a design by Sir George Oatley, the architect who designed Chapels for the Wills family, and Bristol University Buildings. So far as I can tell by a comparison with earlier Maps, it was built on the site of a Foundry, which on the Bristol Town Plans of 1884-1885 was noted as "disused".

There is an excellent account of its foundation on Phil Draper's ChurchCrawler website. He describes how its congregation was founded in a group of worshippers who lived in Hotwells, and found Buckingham Chapel in Queen's Road too far distant to walk to. Their first building was erected in 1886, but this was acquired by the Great Western Railway, so a new building was required.

Kelly's Directory of Bristol of Bristol of 1902 names it as "Buckingham Chapel Mission Hall", and it is listed between #181 and #181A Hotwell Road. In 1914, at an address between #200 and #208 Hotwells Road, it is listed as "Buckingham Hall, Hotwells Baptist Chapel", so evidently the two buildings were on opposite sides of the road.

The following notice in The London Gazette of 31st March 1903 (p.2167) recorded its registration for marriages:

A Separate Building, duly certified for religious worship, named BUCKINGHAM HALL (BAPTIST CHURCH), situated at Hotwell-road, Clifton, in the civil parish of Bristol, in the county borough of Bristol, in Bristol registration district, was on the twenty-fourth March, 1903, registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to 6th and 7th Wm. IV, c.85, being substituted for the building named Buckingham Hall (Baptist Church) situated at Hotwell-road, Clifton, now disused. Dated 16th March 1903.

A similar notice in the Gazette of 31st December 1970 (p.14167) cancelled the registration.

The building has since been demolished, but interestingly, the original Chapel does appear to be still in existence. A comparison with entries in Kelly's Directory of 1902 with 1914 indicates the property between #181 and #181A was taken over by the Salvation Army; whilst in the present day (as of Google StreetView images of 2012) it is a Spar Grocery.

Denomination

Now or formerly Baptist.

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 ST5726972522. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• New Buckingham Chapel (Demolished), Hotwells, 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 Hotwells, 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.