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Knowle Park Congregational Church (now Bristol Nazarene Church),
Broad Walk, BS4 2RD,
Knowle Park, 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 1927, but we understand it was closed by 1985.

The former Knowle Park Congregational Church is a building of its time, which says "Arts & Crafts immediately, on first sight. It has the appearance of being set back in a Crescent, after the style of the "Garden Cities" of the 1920s and 1930s, but this is an illusion fostered by the semi-circular "lay-by" in front of it, which appears now to be used for additional parking.

The following notice in The London Gazette of 5th July 1932 (p.4399) recorded its registration for marriages:

A Separate Building, duly Certified for religious worship, named KNOWLE PARK CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, situated at Broad Walk, Knowle Park, in the civil parish of Bristol, in Bristol registration district, in the county borough of Bristol, was, on the 27th June, 1932, registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to 6 & 7 Will. IV, c.85, being substituted for the Building named Congregational Church, situate at Broad Walk, Knowle. Dated 30th June 1932.

A similar notice, published in the Gazette of 30th December 1985 (p.18189) for "United Reformed Church, Broadwalk, Knowle Park" recorded the cancellation of its registration.

The registration of the original building for marriages was published in the Gazette of 8th April 1930 (p.2269), but apparently the building was open at least 3 years before that, as the Bristol Record Office hold records of baptisms for the period 1927-1962, marriages 1932-1972 (as Congregational) and 1973-1984 (as URC), and deaths/burials 1928-1957. There is no evidence on Old Maps of there ever having been a burial ground, so I am assuming the latter is a record of deaths only, and/or of burials of members of the congregation elsewhere. Old Maps of 1947-1948 do however show a Sunday School, on the left of the Church, now replaced by a block of apartments called "Wellgarth Court". On its right at that time was a Tennis Court - now replaced by a pair of semi-detached, chalet-style houses.

The Church itself was adopted for use in 1987 by the Church of the Nazarene, for which see the separate entry in this database.

Denomination

Now or formerly Congregational.

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 ST6037670554. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Knowle Park Congregational Church (now Bristol Nazarene Church), Knowle Park, 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 Park, 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.