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Guthrie Memorial Chapel (Private),
Clifton College, Guthrie Road,
Clifton, Bristol, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Chapel does 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 1867, and we understand it is still open.

John Latimer, in The Annals of Bristol in the Nineteenth Century (1887), tells us that Clifton College was established in 1860, by means of a company, as "a first class public school for the education of the sons of gentlemen, members of the Established Church". A large piece of ground, including a public house, called the Gardeners' Arms, was purchased for £14,000, and the "Big School", designed by Charles Hansom, begun soon after. The first headmaster appointed was Rev. C. Evans, M.A., a master then teaching at Rugby; Evans, however chose to take up a head-mastership at a school in Birmingham instead, and the Rev. John Percival, M.A., Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, "whose university career had been of almost unsurpassed brilliancy" was appointed in his place. The college opened on 30th September 1862, with about 60 boys.

The chapel was added in 1866 by Mrs. Guthrie, in memory of her husband, the late Canon Guthrie. Arrowsmith's Dictionary of Bristol (1884) records it as "a clever architectural gem in Early Decorated style". At its west end is a magnificent rose window, 18 feet in diameter, arranged with twelve circular lights in the outer part for images of the Apostles, and a large circle in the centre for a representation of Christ, with small intervening spaces for angels. The tower was added by the College Company to the memory of the same reverend gentleman, "whose warm interest in the institution they thus desired to perpetuate". The corner stone was laid by Mrs. Guthrie on December 19th, 1865, and consecrated by the Bishop of the Diocese in 1867. The nave is 75 feet long, 33 feet wide, and is divided into six bays by arched principals on carved stone corbels.

The college was so successful as to exceed the expectations of its promoters; so in December, 1877, with a view to its establishment on a more permanent and unsectarian basis, and to place it on a level with the other great public schools, it was resolved to wind up the company and to petition the Crown for a charter of incorporation. This was obtained in March the following year.

Recent changes include the admission of girls to the Sixth Form in 1987, and it is now fully coeducational.

Denomination

Now or formerly School/College Chapel.

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 is located at OS grid reference ST5705273865. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Guthrie Memorial Chapel (Private), 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)