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Church of Christ the King (RC),
Filwood Broadway / Hartcliffe Road, BS4 1JN,
Filwood Park, 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 1950, and we understand it is still open.

The Catholic Church of Christ the King is situated on the south-west corner of the junction of Filwood Broadway with Hartcliffe Road. The entrance is at the east end, facing Filwood Broadway, which as its name might suggest, is a "broad" dual carriageway, with a central island in which trees have been planted. The church has a large east window, extending from the top of the porch almost to the gable, with vertical glazing bars separating long, thin panes of stained glass. It must look impressive from inside. There is a tower at the north-east corner, topped with an open-sided bell chamber, its roof supported on columns which echo the lines of the east window.

The following notice in The London Gazette of 5th June 1953 (p.3172) recorded its registration for marriages:

A Building certified for worship named CHURCH OF CHRIST THE KING, Filwood Broadway, in the registration district of Bristol, in the county borough of Bristol, was on 30th May, 1953, registered for solemnising marriages therein pursuant to section 41 of the Marriage Act, 1949. Dated 3rd June 1953.

There is a red brick building in Hartcliffe Road, adjacent to the Church, which has a round archway, with an inset painted white, and containing a red crucifix. It is in the grounds of the School of Christ the King, and belongs to the School, but it also served as a Mass centre before the Church was built. Old Maps of 1947-1948 show the School was built before the Church, and an article in The Catholic Herald, of 10th April 1952 entitled "Bishop to open Bristol's first post-war church" refers to the opening of Christ the King, and notes that "the parish was started two years ago when the Rev. Dr. Joseph Buckley, former chancellor of the Clifton diocese, went into lodgings there and made a local school hall his Mass centre".

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 ST5935869614. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Church of Christ the King (RC), Filwood 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 Filwood Park, Bristol, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• Find the article referred to via the search interface to the archive of The Catholic Herald (null) (verified 2018-11-11)
• 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.