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St Saviour's House (Society of St Pius X),
St Agnes Avenue / Redcatch Road, BS4 2DU,
Knowle, 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 before 1891, and we understand it is still open.

This complex of buildings was founded originally as St Agnes Home, described in Kelly's Directory of Bristol of 1902 as the "Industrial Home of the Sisters of Charity of St Raphael's". Old Maps of 1916 label it as "House of Charity", and show the main buildings arranged around a quadrangle, with a rectangular Chapel attached at the south-west corner. On the opposite side of St Agnes Avenue was a building named "St Elizabeth's Home, and next to it a building named "St Vincent's Lodge".

As "St Agnes' Industrial Home, at Knowle" it is mentioned by John Latimer, in The Annals of Bristol in the Nineteenth Century (concluded, 1901). Latimer notes that the City of Bristol was visited (again) by H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh on 23rd October 1891. The chief object of his visit was a concert at Colston Hall, held for the benefit of the St. Agnes' Institute, "which attracted a brilliant audience", and at which "the Prince ably conducted a large body of instrumentalists". He spent the night at the Mansion House, and the next day "proceeded to the General Hospital, where he opened a new wing, just completed at a cost of £10,000. He next planted a tree at the St. Agnes' Industrial Home, at Knowle, and finally lunched at the Mansion House before departing for Plymouth". Note: at the time, the Duke of Edinburgh was Alfred, the second son, and fourth child of Queen Victoria. Judging by the way Latimer speaks of him, he appears to have been well-liked.

At the time of publication of Kelly's Directory of 1914, under Redcatch Road, St Elizabeth's Home was described as the (Junior Branch) of St Agnes School, followed by "St Agnes Home and House of Charity and St Agnes School", with Rev. Mother Elizabeth Lloyd in charge. St Vincent's Lodge was the residence of Rev. Hugh Fawcett Watson, M.A., vicar of St Raphael, Bedminster. Both St Elizabeth's, and St Agnes Home admitted girls only, "either orphans or without good homes for domestic service, nursing or business".

The notice board outside the building today reads "St Saviour's House / Roman Catholic Church / Traditional Latin Mass / Society of St Pius X", and (to quote their website) it now serves as a priory and retreat centre for the Society of Saint Pius X - one of only four in the UK. Priests from Saint Saviour's celebrate Masses at a number of churches, chapels and Mass Centres in the South West of England.

It is assumed that the actual centre is private, but the following notice in The London Gazette of 19th August 1996 (p.11116) records its registration for marriages:

A Building certified for worship named ST. SAVIOURS CHURCH, St. Agnes Avenue, Bristol, in the registration district of Bristol in the Non-Metropolitan County of Bristol, was on 30th July 1996, registered for solemnising marriages therein pursuant to section 41 of the Marriage Act 1949 as amended by section 1(1) of the Marriage Acts Amendment Act 1958. Dated 5th August 1996.

Note: there are old postcards in Paul Townsend's Photographic Archive of Knowle - "House of Charity", and "Convent of the Sisters of Charity", which he says was established in 1937. He also mentions that sadly, the building is "soon" (as of November 2013) to be sold off.

Denomination

Now or formerly Roman Catholic.

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 ST5991470827. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Saviour's House (Society of St Pius X), Knowle, 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, Bristol, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• What can I say? Paul Townsend's collection of photographs, old and new, of Bristol is spectacular, focussing on his Photographic Archive of Knowle (null) (verified 2018-11-13)
• 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.