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

Bristol City Mission (Demolished),
Stillhouse Lane,
Bedminster, 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 before 1914, but we understand it was closed after 1914.

Returns to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/328/1/1/8 and 9) for Chapels in Sargeant Street and Paul Street, Bedminster, suggest that the Bristol City Missionaries were drawn to the poor & very populous neighbourhood". One is tempted to assume that Stillhouse Lane was one such "poor & populous" place, but Kelly's Directories of the early 1900s suggest it was a hive of industry. There were 2 working Tanneries, the Bedminster Bridge Board School, a rather grand building, which was erected in 1895, and still survives in the present day, and numerous small traders.

By way of example, the street directory section of Kelly's Directory of Bristol of 1914 for "Stillhouse Lane" lists on the east side (north to south) Frank W. Mines, who had a shoeing forge; Henry Carroll, a shopkeeper; Mrs E. Stallard, a grocer; "Bedminster Bridge Council Schools", with a caretaker, Albert George Rendall; Bristol City Mission; William Pitman, and (on the north-east corner of the junction with Willway Street) Jno. Cox & Co's Successors, tanners, and finally, Henry Mansfield, a boot maker, between Willway Street and the intersection with Philip Street. The opposite (west) side of the street had a cask merchant, a firm of glue makers, a drag-shoe manufactory, a builder, a beer house called the New Pilgrim, and a chimney sweep. Also mentioned are 2 cul-de-sacs (courts) - Cox's Cottages and Bedminster Place, both with a list of residents.

The Mission Hall is not, to my knowledge, shown on any Old Maps, and indeed it is a moot point whether it existed in its own right, or whether the entry in Kelly's refers to a back entrance to the City Mission Hall which is known to have existed in Sargent Street since 1850. Sargent Street was a cul-de-sac at right angles to Stillhouse Lane, and Old Maps of the 1900s show the rear of Bedminster Bridge School was adjacent to the Mission Hall in Sargent Street, just as the front was adjacent to the City Mission in Stillhouse Lane.

Denomination

Now or formerly City Mission.

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 ST5893471821. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Bristol City Mission (Demolished), Bedminster, 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)