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

St Ewen's Church (Demolished),
Corn Street / Broad Street,
Bristol, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

This Church 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 before 1480, but we understand it was closed before 1824.

The Bristol Town Map of 1884 shows the site of St Ewen's Church, on the north-west corner of the junction of Corn Street with Broad Street. This junction was also the site of the High Cross. All Saints Church was on the south-west corner, and Christchurch on the north-east corner. If there had been a fourth church on the south-east corner, one might say it could have qualified as a "Holy Corner", like that in Edinburgh at the junction of Morningside Road, Bruntsfield Place, and Colinton Road!

The 1884 Map shows that by then, St Ewen's had been replaced by the (Old) Council House, which in turn today is the home of Bristol Register Office. According to the British Listed Buildings website, it was built between 1824 and 1827 to a design by Sir Robert Smirke, so evidently St Ewen had been demolished by then. Surviving registers cover the periods 1538-1792 (baptisms), 1539-1793 (marriages), and 1538-1786 (burials), which would seem to indicate this was post-1792.

The About Bristol website suggests it was earlier than this as it states that "St Ewen (also known as Auden or Owen)" was consolidated with Christchurch in 1788. Their account records something of the appearance of St Ewen - the tower, erected in 1631, and a 'great window' over the eastern altar, which according to William Worcestre in 1480 overlooked Broad Street. When it was demolished to build the old council house, stone coffins and fragments of Norman stonework were found - thus suggesting a Norman foundation.

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 was located at OS grid reference ST5886473052. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Ewen's Church (Demolished), 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 Bristol, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• Learn more about Buildings of special or historical interest on the British Listed Buildings (null) (verified 2018-09-19)
• “History, Architecture, Churches, Statues, Landmarks”… About Bristol (null) (verified 2018-11-10)

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.