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Merrywood Gospel Hall,
Merrywood Road, BS3 1DX,
Bedminster, 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 in 1889, but we understand it was closed by 1997.

The Gospel Hall in Merrywood Road is an unusual building. It is built of dark stone, with lighter stone dressings, and is on three floors. Merrywood Road slopes upwards, and the ground floor entrance, on the left side, is at road level, but the right side entrance is up a few steps to a porch at first floor level, which spans both ground and first floor. The second storey has a large window, with five lights spanning almost the whole width of the building. Above that again is a plaque which reads "Gospel Hall". There is no date, but the list Places of Worship available on the Bristol & Avon Family History Society website says it was opened in 1889, for a congregation of Christian Brethren; whilst the following notice in The London Gazette of 21st November 1890 (p.6219) indicates it was registered for marriages the following year:

NOTICE is hereby given, that a separate building, named the Gospel Hall, situate at Merrywood-road, in the parish of Bedminster, in the city of Bristol, in the district of Bedminster, being a building certified according to law as a place of religious worship, was, on the 15th day of November, 1890, duly registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to the Act of 6th and 7th Wm. 4, cap. 85. Dated 18th November 1890.

It is not known exactly when it was closed, but planning consent was granted for "Change of use from Gospel Hall to single dwelling" as of 10 Nov 1997 (Ref: 97/02900/F), whilst later consents have resulted in it being converted into 4 apartments.

Denomination

Now or formerly Christian 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 Church was located at OS grid reference ST5823071618. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Merrywood Gospel Hall, 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.

• Parish Histories, Burial data, &c. on the Bristol & Avon Family History Society (null) (verified 2018-11-04)
• 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.