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Holy Trinity Vestry Hall,
Pennywell Road,
St Philip, 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 after 1880, though it is now closed, but we don't yet know when.

This "Vestry Hall" stands on the west side of Pennywell Road, just past its junction with Eugene Street. It is a large classical building of three wide bays, interspersed with four 'blind' archways, giving the appearance of having seven bays. The letters "Vestry Hall" are superscribed on a frieze above, and below, a vestibule and porch extending across the full width of the building have been added.

It is not clear how much ecclesiastical business was carried on here, and in later years, certainly, it was a cinema, but in 1902, it appears to have had - at least - a nominal connection with Holy Trinity Church, in Trinity Road, as it is recorded in Kelly's Directory of Bristol of that year in the commercial section as "Holy Trinity Vestry Hall". In 1914, however, it is listed under the heading of "Public Halls". It was said to have seating for 800, and it could be booked as per arrangement at Council House, so perhaps it was already in secular use by then. Its Keeper was William Wilson.

Holy Trinity parish was created in 1834, out of the parish of St Philip & St Jacob, but the building was not shown on Old Maps until the 1880s. It is not possible to see the date from Google StreetView images, but a photograph on Paul Townsend's Photographic Archive of Lawrence Hill & Moorfields shows it above the frieze as being 1880.

Paul's account of the building says it was built originally as "a segregated sports and activities gymnasium". Meanwhile, elsewhere online (a Facebook page) there is a suggestion it was a meeting place for the Bristol Church of Christ - so obviously it has had a very varied history.

In the present day, however, it is believed to have been converted into apartments.

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 ST5994673596. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Holy Trinity Vestry Hall, St Philip, 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, 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 Lawrence Hill & Moorfields (null) (verified 2018-11-13)

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.