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

Island School Room (Demolished),
Levi's Court, Island,
Gloucester, 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 about 1844, but we understand it was closed by 1941.

This Mission Room first came to my attention on the Gloucester Town Plans of 1884. Levi's Court was a narrow alley leading off the south-west end of Westgate Street in the direction of the River Severn. It would appear that at the time, the area was partly residential, and partly industrial. There were several Public Houses, including the Royal Oak, which had a large yard at the rear. Levi's Court lay between Royal Oak Court, which was adjacent to the pub, and Goodrich Court to the east. Further to the east was Island Mill, and on the opposite side of the road, St Bartholomew's Hospital.

Thanks to the Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 4: The City of Gloucester (1988), pp.319-334 (Protestant Nonconformity), the Mission is known to have been the "Island School Room", in "Levy's Yard", which is also recorded on the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/336/2/1/2). The return describes a building erected "about 1844" (the VCH says "rebuilt"), for a congregation that was "Independent or Congregational". It was in the parish of St Nicholas, and not a separate building, as it was "used also as a daily Infants' School". It had free seating for 80, and no "other" (ie paid-for) sittings, and had an estimated congregation of 25 on March 30th. The return was completed by Charles March, who described himself as "Dean of Independent Chapel with which this Schoolroom is connected". This was, presumably, Southgate Congregational Church.

The VCH account adds that the room, which was reopened for Sunday evening services in 1898, was sold in 1941. And in the present day, as far as I can tell, the whole area has been cleared, and is now in Industrial use.

Denomination

Now or formerly Independent/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 SO8260718893. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Island School Room (Demolished), Gloucester shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Gloucester 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 Gloucester, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 4: The City of Gloucester (null) (verified 2018-11-06)

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.