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Friends Burial Ground & Mission Hall (Cleared),
River Street / New Street,
St Jude, Bristol, Gloucestershire.

Church History

This Cemetery or Burial Ground was founded before 1884, but we understand it was closed by 1929.

This was one of several burial grounds in the area of Redcross Street. It was situated adjacent to what was labelled on Maps of 1885 as a School (for Boys & Girls). Maps of 1903 show the School had become a Mission Hall. The latter is listed in Kelly's Directories of Bristol of 1902 as "Mission Hall", and in 1914 as "Friends' New Street Mission Hall".

The following notice in The London Gazette of 26th July 1929 (p.4936) would appear to indicate its closure:

NOTICE is hereby given that the Building formerly known as NEW STREET MISSION HALL, situated at New-street, in the civil parish of Bristol, in the registration district of Bristol, in the county borough of Bristol, which was duly registered for marriages pursuant to the Act of 6 & 7 Will. IV, c.85, sec. 18, is now no longer used as a Place of Meeting for religious worship by the congregation on whose behalf it was so registered, and that the registry thereof was therefore on the 23rd day of July, 1929, formally cancelled by the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages for England and Wales. Dated 24th July 1929.

A comparison of Ashmead's Maps of Bristol of 1855 with later Maps show the School/Mission Hall was built on the site of a block of "Friends Almshouses", arranged around the 3 sides of a courtyard.

River Street was (presumably) so-called, as it ran along the south side of the River Frome. Another road, by the name of Skinner Street, ran alongside the opposite (north) bank. The above-mentioned Map of 1855 shows there was a bridge across the river called "Quakers' Bridge". The Frome has since been culverted, and only River Street now survives. The present-day Friends' Meeting House, built in 1962, occupies the plot on which the burial ground stood; and a block of flats now stands where the former school/mission room used to be.

Denomination

Now or formerly a Cemetery (Quaker).

In most cases this will be a record of its original consecration.

Maps

This Cemetery was located at OS grid reference ST5961673381. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Friends Burial Ground & Mission Hall (Cleared), St Jude, 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 Jude, 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.