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Mount Olive United Methodist Free Church ("Wesley Hall"),
Blackboy Hill (213 Whiteladies Road), BS8 2XS,
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 1850, but we understand it was closed by 1931.

This place of worship was, according to the book Bristol and Its Environs (1875), published by the British Association, opened in 1855. However it seems probable that its congregation was founded earlier, by a group of seceders from the Wesley Chapel in nearby Wesley Place, described elsewhere in this database. The return for the latter to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/330/1/1/14) notes that a secession had taken place 6 months previously, and "several persons ... have assembled in a nother place of worship". The figures supplied for March 30th, when compared with the previous 12 months, indicate that more than half of the morning congregation had left, and by evening, only 34 remained out of a former 120.

The Bristol Town Plans of 1882 label the building as "Mount Olive Chapel (United Methodist)", with seats for 210; and it can still be seen in the present day. It stands at the top of Whiteladies Road, on the east side, and is considered to be quite a landmark. It is built of stone, with a central doorway, approached by a flight of steps. There are 2 round-arched windows on either side of the doorway, and a similar smaller window above it, all three filled with small lights in several colours of glazing. Above it again is a small rose window, and a rounded bell-turret at the apex. It may once have had a datestone, but if so, this is no longer readable.

Kelly's Directory of Bristol 1902 list Blackboy Hill following on from Grove Buildings, under Whiteladies Road. The entry is for "Mount Olive United Methodist Free Church". By 1914, the building in the same relative position is named "Wesley Hall, Wesleyan Mission", so seemingly it had changed its name, but not, apparently, its allegiance, as the Ecclesiastical section lists "Wesley Hall (Whiteladies Road)" as United Methodist.

And so it was called, apparently, when it was closed, the following notice in The London Gazette of 11th December 1931 (p.8003) referring to its demise:

NOTICE is hereby given that the Place of Meeting for religious worship described as WESLEY HALL, situated at Blackboy Hill, Durdham Down, in the civil parish of Bristol, in the registration district of Bristol, in the county borough of Bristol, which was duly certified for worship on the 5th day of March, 1907, has wholly ceased to be used as a Place of Meeting for religious worship by the congregation on whose behalf it was so certified, and that the Registrar-General has caused the record of the certification thereof to be cancelled pursuant to the Act 18 & 19 Vic., c.81, from the 9th day of December, 1931. Dated 9th December 1931.

Maps of 1952-1953 indicate a further change of use, as the building was by then labelled as "Pentecostal Church". This is believed to be the "Mount of Olives Assembly", open by 1932, for which see the separate entry in this database.

The Mount of Olives Chapel was in turn closed by 1979, and since then, the building had been converted into a gymnasium and fitness centre, known (in 2014) as the Exercise Club.

Denomination

Now or formerly Free/United Methodist.

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 ST5741474746. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Mount Olive United Methodist Free Church ("Wesley Hall"), 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.

• 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.