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Providence Chapel / Providence Hall,
138A Grosvenor Road / Franklyn Lane, BS2 8YA,
St Paul, 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 before 1884, but we understand it was closed by 1980.

This place of worship is labelled on the Bristol Town Plans of 1884 as "Providence Chapel (Particular Baptist)", and it had seating for 150. The street directory portion of Kelly's Directory of Bristol of 1902 also records it as "Providence Chapel", and (in the Ecclesiastical section) under "Mission & Gospel Halls"; however by the time Kelly's Directory of Bristol of 1914 was published, it was listed as "Providence Hall", belonging to the "Brethren". Seemingly, therefore it was taken over by Brethren sometime between the two.

The following notice in The London Gazette of 10th May 1927 (p.3070) recorded its registration for marriages:

A Separate Building, duly certified for religious worship, named PROVIDENCE HALL, situated at Grosvenor-road, in the civil parish of Bristol, in the county borough of Bristol, in Bristol registration district, was, on the 5th May, 1927, registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to 6 & 7 Wm. IV, c.85. Dated 6th May 1927.

A comparable notice cancelling the registration of "PROVIDENCE HALL, Grosvenor Road, Bristol" was published in the Gazette of 21st March 1980 (p.4475).

The building is still in existence, at the north-east end of Grosvenor Street, backing onto Franklyn Lane. It is atypical of chapels of its vintage, as it has windows more reminiscent of a school-house than a chapel; and its gable, where a bell turret might have been, has been flattened, but perhaps these are recent modifications. At the time of the Google StreetCar drive-past of October 2012, it had a yellow door, with a sign above reading "Grosvenor Centre".

Denomination

Now or formerly Particular Baptist/Brethren.

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 ST5975174223. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Providence Chapel / Providence Hall, St Paul, 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 Paul, 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.