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United Reformed Church Bedminster,
West Street / 48 Stanley Street South, BS3 3PG,
Bedminster, Bristol, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

This Church has (or had) 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 the 17th century, and we understand it is still open.

The United Reformed Church in Bedminster comprises a range of buildings in varying styles. What is probably the newest, and what might be considered the Church's "flag ship", is a single-storey flat-roofed building of red brick, facing West Street, which has "United Reformed Church Bedminster" in white lettering across the front, and above it, a cross. This is attached at the rear to another building, again of red brick, facing Stanley Street South. On first sight it looks older, but the bricks match, so it is probably of similar age. Behind that again, and joined to it by an arched entrance, is the main body of the Church. It has a tall central stained-glass window, with two smaller windows on either side, and is finished in stucco, on a red brick base, and is evidently much older.

The Church was originally Congregational, founded, according to Phil Draper's ChurchCrawler website, in the 17th century. The parish registers held by Bristol Record Office cover baptisms 1906-1914 & 1921-1957; marriages 1908-1956; and deaths (or burials) 1906-1935 & 1939, suggesting there may have been a burial ground.

The following notice in The London Gazette of 30th August 1907 (p.5959) covers its registration for marriages:

A Separate Building, duly certified for religious worship, named CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, situated at West-street, Bedminster, in the civil parish of Bristol, in the county borough of Bristol, in Bristol registration district, was, on the 24th August, 1907, registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to 6th and 7th Wm. IV, c.85. Dated 26th August 1907.

Denomination

Now or formerly Congregational/United Reformed (URC).

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 is located at OS grid reference ST5805670999. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• United Reformed Church Bedminster, Bedminster, 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 Bedminster, Bristol, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• The Church officiando's “Bible” - Phil Draper's ChurchCrawler (null) (verified 2018-10-16)
• 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.