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

Peoples Bethel Mission (Demolished),
Callowhill Street,
St Paul, 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 before 1895, and it has since been demolished, but we don't know when.

At the time of publication of Kelly's Directory of Bristol of 1914, Callowhill Street marked the boundary between the parishes of St Clement (Newfoundland Road) and St Matthias on the Weir. "Bethel Chapel" is listed on the south side, in the parish of St Matthias. Only 3 other buildings were mentioned - Lewis, Rice & Wallis, joinery manufacturers, Mrs Ada Jane Moloney, a shopkeeper, and the Prince of Wales, run by William John Blackmore, a beer retailer.

The location of the building is not, to my knowledge, shown on any Maps, but one building is shown as larger than the rest, on the south-west corner of the junction of Callowhill Street with Hanover Street, and this seems the most likely candidate.

The following notice in The London Gazette of 24th May 1895 (p.3024) recorded its registration for marriages:

NOTICE is hereby given that a separate building named People's Bethel Mission situate at Callowhill-street in the parish of St. Paul in the city and county of Bristol in the district of Bristol being a building certified according to law as a place of religious worship, was on the 18th day of May 1895, duly registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to the Act of 6th and 7th Wm. 4, cap. 85. Dated 20th May 1895.

Callowhill Street ran parallel to Water Street (a continuation eastwards of Broadmead) and Milk Street (a continuation of Horsefair); all of which now lie beneath the Cabot Circus complex. It is reputedly named after Thomas Callowhill, a Quaker. His daughter Hannah married William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania; and perhaps unsurprisingly, it was also the site of a Quaker meeting house. John Latimer, in The Annals of Bristol in the Eighteenth Century (1893) describes how in 1792, it was no longer in use, and was fitted out for "a society ... for promoting the happiness of blind children by instructing them in some useful employment" - the Friends themselves being "the most zealous promoters of the infant Blind Asylum".

The asylum was moved to Lower Maudlin Street in 1803, and the building was sold. Possibly in due course it became the Bethel Mission, but whether this is the case is unknown.

Note: Rocque's Map of Bristol of 1750 labels Callowhill Street as "Castle Hall Street". Interesting...

Denomination

Now or formerly Unsectarian.

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 ST5934073438. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Peoples Bethel Mission (Demolished), 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.