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

Lodge Street Chapel (Demolished),
Trenchard Street / Lodge Street,
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 1775, but we understand it was closed by 1914.

This place of worship may be seen on the Bristol Town Plans of 1884 on the south-west corner of the junction of Lodge Street with Trenchard Street. It was described as a Congregational Chapel with seats for 800. It faced the rear of Colston Hall. Kelly's Directory of Bristol of 1902 lists it with other Congregational Chapels as "Lodge Street", with the Rev. William Stacey officiating, but the equivalent publication of 1914 makes no mention of it, so perhaps it had closed by then.

John Latimer, in The Annals of Bristol in the Eighteenth Century (1893) records its origins, in the old Assembly Rooms (formerly St Augustine's theatre) at St Augustine's Back. The building was leased by the Countess of Huntingdon, and fitted out at her expense, to open in August 1775. Latimer says the building was never consecrated, but it was served for several years by clergymen of the Church of England. "The attendance was generally large, and many distinguished families, during their visits to the Hot Well, were accustomed to attend" - leading, Latimer suggests, to the foundation of Hope Chapel, in Clifton, by Lady Henrietta Hope and Lady Glenorchy in 1786, for which see the separate entry in this database.

The next mention of Lady Huntingdon's Chapel is in Arrowsmith's Dictionary of Bristol of 1884. He notes that a building in Lodge Street was erected in 1831 "to accommodate the congregation of Lady Huntingdon's Chapel in St Augustine's place. Its cost was £4,500. The roof forms a nave and side aisles without pillars".

The following notice in The London Gazette of 5th December 1837 (p.3221) records its registration for marriages:

NOTICE is hereby given, that a separate building, named Lady Huntingdon's Chapel, situated at Lodge-street, in the parish of St. Augustine, within the city and county of Bristol, being a building certified according to law as a place of religious worship, was, on the 25th day of November 1837, duly registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to the Act of 6th and 7th William 4, chap. 85. Dated 3rd December 1837.

Evidently it was later to be renamed, and became Congregational; however no corresponding notice of a de-registration has been found for it, nor indeed for any building in Lodge Street.

Denomination

Now or formerly Huntingdon Connexion.

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 ST5850273050. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Lodge Street Chapel (Demolished), 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 Bristol, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• 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.