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Kingdom Hall (Private House),
17 William Street,
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 by 1953, but we understand it was closed in 1956.

This is an ordinary terraced house, which appears to have been Bedminster's first meeting place for Jehovah's Witnesses.

The following notice in The London Gazette of 17th February 1953 (p.987) recorded its registration for marriages:

A Building certified for worship named KINGDOM HALL, 17, William Street, Bedminster, in the registration district of Bristol, in the county borough of Bristol, was on 6th February, 1953, registered for solemnising marriages therein pursuant to section 41 of the Marriage Act, 1949. Dated 10th February, 1953.

Two notices in the Gazette provide a record of its closure. The first was published on 27th July 1956 (p.4360), and applied (apparently) to only part of the building, as a second notice of 5th April 1957 (p.2142) recorded the cancellation of the use of "Two Rooms, First Floor" of 17 William Street, which were registered originally on 19th July 1956.

A new Kingdom Hall was opened in Marksbury Road, Bedminster, in the next decade. It was not registered for marriages until 1969, so on the one hand, if it had just opened, it might have had nothing to do with the William Street premises, but on the other, if it had opened several years earlier than its registration, it could have been its replacement.

Denomination

Now or formerly Jehovah's Witness.

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 ST5971671742. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Kingdom Hall (Private House), 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.

• 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.