Default Image Place of Worship has been
Demolished.
Image by courtesy of
openclipart.org

Redcliffe Crescent Memorial Methodist Church (Demolished),
Wingfield Road, BS3 5JB,
Knowle West, 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 1951, but we understand it was closed by 2004.

As its name suggests, Redcliffe Crescent Memorial Methodist Church owes its allegiance to the former Redcliffe Crescent Methodist Church, in York Place, which was destroyed during WWII bombing. It was opened originally by 1951, as the following notice in The London Gazette of 6th November 1951 (p.5798) indicates:

A Separate Building, duly certified for religious worship, named REDCLIFFE CRESCENT MEMORIAL METHODIST CHURCH situated at Corner of Wingfield Road and Wedmore Vale in Bristol registration district in the county borough of Bristol was on the 29th October 1951, registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to Section 42 of the Marriage Act 1949, being substituted for the Building named Methodist Church situated at York Road, Bedminster now disused. Dated 31st October 1951.

I suspect this was the building which was identified on Old Maps of 1949 as a Youth Club, on the north-east corner of the junction of Wingfield Road and Wedmore Vale, and only intended as a temporary home. Certainly, a few years later, Old Maps of 1972-1977 show a new building, on the opposite (south) side of Wingfield Road, further from the corner. The following notice in The London Gazette of 28th September 1956 (p.5505) recorded the substitution:

A Building certified for worship named REDCLIFFE CRESCENT MEMORIAL METHODIST CHURCH, Wingfield Road, Wedmore Vale, in the registration district of Bristol, in the county borough of Bristol, was on 25th September, 1956, registered for solemnising marriages therein pursuant to section, 42; of the Marriage Act, 1949, in place of Redcliffe Crescent Memorial Methodist Church, corner of Wingfield Road and Wedmore Vale, now disused. Dated 26th September, 1956.

It is believed to have been renamed at a later date to "Wedmore Vale Methodist Church", and as such, its closure notification appeared in the Gazette of 27th October 2004 (p.13566). This makes it the last of three former "Redcliffe Crescent" buildings to close, and by a neat quirk of fate, a block of three town houses now occupies its site.

An account of the original building, in York Road, may be found elsewhere in this database.

Denomination

Now or formerly Methodist.

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 ST5931870675. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Redcliffe Crescent Memorial Methodist Church (Demolished), Knowle West, 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 Knowle West, 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.