Christ Church, Bath is a

proprietary chapel A proprietary chapel is a chapel that originally belonged to a private person, but with the intention that it would be open to the public, rather than restricted (as with private chapels in the stricter sense) to members of a family or household, ...

on Julian Road,

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, England.

History and organisation

The church was founded by socially concerned clergy and lay people for those excluded from worship through the system of

pew rents A pew () is a long bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a synagogue, church, funeral home or sometimes a courtroom. Occasionally, they are also found in live performance venues (such as the Ryman A ...

. It was probably the first church, at that time, to provide seating free of charge. Early supporters included the Archbishop of Canterbury, the great evangelical and campaigner against slavery,

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 ...

and Martin Stafford Smith, godfather of

John Keble John Keble (25 April 1792 – 29 March 1866) was an English Anglican priest and poet who was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. Keble College, Oxford, is named after him. Early life Keble was born on 25 April 1792 in Fairford, Glouces ...

, a founder of the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...

. Christ Church is not a parish church, but maintains a pattern of services and other activities similar to that of a parish church, drawing its congregation from the local area, from other parts of

and from further afield. The church is owned by a charitable trust, and is governed by a board of Trustees and a Church Council. Christ Church is part of the Bath and Wells Diocese, and the clergy of the church work on a non-stipendiary basis. Because of this, it has had a large number of incumbents in its 200-year history. In recent decades many students at the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

have worshipped at Christ Church. Prebendary

Angela Berners-Wilson Angela Veronica Isabel Berners-Wilson (born 1954) is a Church of England priest and chaplain. She is considered to be the first woman to be ordained as a priest in the Church of England. She was chaplain at the University of Bath from 2004 to 201 ...

, the first woman to be ordained priest in the Church of England, was for several years until July 2016 one of the assistant priests at the church.

The building

The building was designed by

John Palmer John Palmer may refer to: People Politicians * John Palmer (fl. 1377–1394), English politician * Sir John Palmer, 5th Baronet (1735–1817), British politician *John Palmer (1785–1840), U.S. congressman from New York * John Palmer (1842–190 ...

, one of the principal architects working in Georgian Bath, and built in 1798. It is in a neo-Gothic style, but Classically proportioned, with north and south aisles and a gallery on three sides. The

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

was added in 1865-6 by

John Elkington Gill John Elkington Gill (1821–1874) was a 19th-century architect in Bath, Somerset, England. Life Gill was born in 1821. He was partnered in the firm Manners and Gill with the more famous George Phillips Manners. Gill continued the latter's pra ...

, whose firm undertook much later work on the church. Stained glass on the south side of the gallery is by A. O. Hemming and depicts Jesus as the

Good Shepherd The Good Shepherd (, ''poimḗn ho kalós'') is an image used in the pericope of , in which Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ is depicted as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. Similar imagery is used in Psalm 23 and Ezeki ...

and the

Parable of the Good Samaritan The parable of the Good Samaritan is told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. It is about a traveler (implicitly understood to be Jewish) who is stripped of clothing, beaten, and left half dead alongside the road. A Jewish priest and then a Levite ...

. The two windows at the west end are by

James Powell and Sons The firm of James Powell and Sons, also known as Whitefriars Glass, were London-based English glassmakers, leadlighters and stained-glass window manufacturers. As Whitefriars Glass, the company existed from the 18th century, but became well kno ...

and show Christ in Majesty and the raising of the

daughter of Jairus The raising of Jairus' daughter is a reported miracle of Jesus that occurs in the synoptic Gospels, where it is interwoven with the account of the healing of a bleeding woman. The narratives can be found in Mark 5:21–43, Matthew 9:18–26 a ...

. There are nine lancet windows in the apse by

Clayton and Bell Clayton and Bell was one of the most prolific and proficient British workshops of stained-glass windows during the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century. The partners were John Richard Clayton (1827–1913) and Alfred Bell (1832� ...

, and the windows in the main body of the church contain individual saints, angels and biblical characters, themed around the

Te Deum Laudamus The ( or , ; from its incipit, ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to a date before AD 500, but perhaps with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin C ...

. Other interior furnishings include an unusual wooden altarpiece. A new central altar with matching furniture, including choir seating and readers, was installed on an extended platform in the chancel in 2020. A recast peal of bells was hung in the church tower in 2015.

Music and events

The first organ was provided in 1800 by John Avery. In June 2003 David Briggs gave the inaugural recital on the three-manual organ after it was rebuilt by Deane's organ builders of

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

. In 2018-9 the organ underwent further restoration by Nicholson & Co. The church choir sings at the main Sunday morning service each week, at

choral evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. It is loosely based on the canonical hours of vespers and compline. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which ...

each month, and at occasional special services. Christ Church is sometimes used as a concert venue in the

Bath International Music Festival The Bath International Music Festival was held late each spring in Bath, South West England between 1948 and 2016. The festival included many genres such as Jazz, Classical, World and Folk and merged with the Bath Literature Festival in 2017 to c ...

and in recent years

Joanna MacGregor Joanna Clare MacGregor (born 16 July 1959) is a British concert pianist, conductor, composer, and festival curator. She is Head of Piano at the Royal Academy of Music and a professor of the University of London. She was artistic director of t ...

, the

Hilliard Ensemble Hilliard Ensemble was a British male vocal quartet originally devoted to the performance of early music. The group was named after the Elizabethan miniaturist painter Nicholas Hilliard. Founded in 1974, the group disbanded in 2014. Although ...

and Exaudi have performed there. In 2005 it was the location of the last ever concert by the Bath Festival Chorus, which was conducted by

James MacMillan Sir James Loy MacMillan, TOSD (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor. Early life MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is Jam ...

. The church also hosts book signings arranged by a local bookshop; authors who have presented their work at Christ Church include

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

Paddy Ashdown Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon (27 February 194122 December 2018), better known as Paddy Ashdown, was a British politician and diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999. Internation ...

Prue Leith Dame Prudence Margaret Leith, (born 18 February 1940) is a South African-British restaurateur, broadcaster, cookery writer and novelist. She was a judge on BBC Two's ''Great British Menu'' for eleven years, before joining ''The Great British ...

Ruby Wax Ruby Wax (; born 19 April 1953) is an American-British actress, comedian, writer, television presenter, and mental health campaigner. A classically-trained actress, Wax co-starred on the ITV sitcom '' Girls on Top'' (1985–1986), and came t ...

and

Brian May Sir Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, animal welfare activist and astrophysics, astrophysicist. He achieved global fame as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Queen ...

References

External links

Website

Historic Christ Church documents and images online

Image of the south-west corner

An aerial view of the church and its surroundings

Entry in A Church Near You

Listed building status

{{coord, 51.3876, -2.3624, display=title Churches in Bath, Somerset

1798 establishments in England