St James' Presbyterian Church (also known as Welsh Congregational Church) was a church in The Haymarket, St James,

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

, England.

History

The church was built in 1859. It was destroyed during

The Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In around 1953, St James's Presbyterian in Romney Avenue, Lockleaze was built. In 1897, the church hosted a synod of the

Presbyterian Church of England The Presbyterian Church of England was a late-19th century and 20th century Presbyterian denomination in England. The church's origins lay in the 1876 merger of the English congregations of the chiefly Scottish United Presbyterian Church with var ...

in order to commemorate Rev. William C. Burns becoming the church's first missionary to China when he arrived there in 1847. The moderator of the synod was Rev. H. L. Mackenzie, who spoke at length about his experiences over nearly four decades at the Presbyterian Church of England's Swatow Mission in China. The remains of the Victorian-era St James' Church are just south of the current

coach station. The church was bombed in the evening of 24 November 1940''Blitz over Britain'' by Edwin Webb and John Duncan, 1990, . p. 86 and partly restored as a chapel in 1957. The

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specific ...

still remains but the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-typ ...

has been converted to offices. In 1957, the church tower and lower doors were used as the walls of a courtyard for a small Welsh Congregational chapel designed by Eustace Button, who designed a number of churches in the area. This small chapel lay across the old church, with the old halls at the rear. The Eustace Button church was low with

tip-up seat A folding seat is a seat that folds away so as to occupy less space. When installed on a transit bus, it makes room for a wheelchair or two. When installed on a passenger car, it provides extra seating. In churches, it may have a projection ca ...

s and a wide open-span ceiling. The Welsh congregation moved here from the Castle Street area where their chapel had been destroyed during bombing and not rebuilt. The Welsh Congregation closed the chapel in 1988 – the adjacent hall was in an appalling state of repair. The Victorian tower and doors were incorporated in the office development and the 1957 chapel and Victorian hall were demolished.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint James' Presbyterian Church of England, Bristol Former churches in Bristol 20th century in Bristol Churches completed in 1859 Churches bombed by the Luftwaffe in Bristol 19th-century churches in the United Kingdom 19th-century Presbyterian churches