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Bellevue Gospel Hall,
Bellevue Road,
Totterdown, Bristol, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Church 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 1880, and we understand it is still open.

This Gospel Hall is a long narrow building, facing Bellevue Road, but extending backwards as far as rear boundaries of the houses in Cambridge Street. The Bristol Town Plans of 1885 show a shorter building, so obviously it has been extended since then. The rear of the plot was then laid out to (I assume) garden, with a central path; and the building was said to have seats for 150 for a congregation of Christian Brethren.

The front facing Bellevue Road has two pointed-arched windows, and a central entrance, above which is a blue sign with white lettering which reads "Gospel Hall", and below it, in a smaller font, "1880" and "2011". Presumably this indicates the sign was put up in 2011, for a building erected in 1880. The door is painted blue to match the sign, and above it is a mock venetian window, with lights similar to those on the ground floor.

The Ecclesiastical section of Kelly's Directory of Bristol of 1914 lists it as "Gospel Hall, Belle Vue Rd, Totterdown" under the section for "Brethren". Services were held on Sundays at 10:45 and 6:30, Sunday School was at 2:45, and Men's Bible Class at 3pm. A Women's Bible Class was held on Mondays from 8 to 9pm; a meeting for Young People was held on Tuesdays, again at 8pm; and on Wednesdays a Prayer Meeting took place at 7.30pm - all of which would seem to indicate a very active congregation.

The building backs onto Cambridge Street, but some sources record it as being in Cambridge Street itself, as for instance the following notice in The London Gazette of 11th January 1921 (p.309):

A Separate Building, duly certified for religious worship, named GOSPEL HALL, situated at Cambridge-street, Bedminster, in the civil-parish of Bristol, in the county borough of Bristol, in Bristol registration district, was, on the fifth January, 1921, registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to 6th and 7th Wm. IV, c.85. Dated 8th January 1921.

Presumably the notice does apply to the same building, as it seems unlikely there would be two similar Chapels back-to-back.

Denomination

Now or formerly 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 is located at OS grid reference ST5980971840. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Bellevue Gospel Hall, Totterdown, 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 Totterdown, 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.