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St Mary's Church,
High Street,
Shirehampton, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

This Church has (or had) 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 1727, and we understand it is still open.

Kelly's Directory of 1897 describes Shirehampton as a picturesque and increasingly populous parish on the shore of the river Avon, opposite Pill in Somersetshire [sic], and bounded on the west by that river, and protected from the north-east winds by the Kingsweston hills and park. It has a station on the Clifton Extension Joint Line (Great Western and Midland) railway, and is 5 miles north-west from Bristol. Shirehampton was formerly a tithing in Westbury on Trym parish, but was created an ecclesiastical parish in 1844.

The church of St Mary is described as "a cruciform building of stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of two bays, north aisle, transepts, north porch, and a western turret containing a clock and 2 bells". It was restored in 1890, and affords 430 sittings.

The living was then a vicarage, in the gift of the Bishop of Bristol, and had been held since 1889 by the Rev. Alfred James Harvey M.A. of the University of London. Philip Napier Miles esq., who was also lord of the manor, and the Rev. Edward Langley M.A. vicar of Alveston, were the principal landowners. The parish records date from 1727, partly included with Westbury on Trym.

Sadly however, the church as described in 1897 was destroyed by fire, some 20 years later, on the morning of Sunday, 15th January 1928. It was however rebuilt, and the present church was consecrated on the anniversary of its destruction, in 1930.

There is a photograph of St Mary's church, Shirehampton as it is today on the Geograph website, which, it will be observed, bears little resemblance to the description of 1897 - notably in its unique bell turret! This is because the original building was destroyed by fire, in 1928. It was however rebuilt, and the present church was consecrated on second the anniversary of its destruction, on 15th January, 1930.

Note: the parish of Shirehampton was abolished in 1904, to become part of the civil parish of Bristol, created in 1898, and today (2014) it constitutes part of Bristol City and County.

Denomination

Now or formerly Church of England.

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 ST5310476911. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Mary's Church, Shirehampton shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Shirehampton 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 Shirehampton, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• You may like to see photograph(s) of St Mary's church, Shirehampton on the Geograph website.

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.