Christ Church with St Ewen () is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in Broad Street,

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, England. Christ Church was built between 1786 and 1791. The tower appears to have been designed by

Thomas Paty Thomas Paty ( 1713 – 4 May 1789) was a British surveyor, architect and mason working mainly in Bristol. He worked with his sons John Paty and William Paty. Career Thomas Paty came from a family of builders but little is known of his origi ...

who was architect to the vestry, and the body of the church by his son

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

, and built by Thomas Paty and Sons, replacing a medieval one. The entrance and refurbished interior are by Henry Williams in 1883. The building was restored by Priest-in-charge Rev. G. S. Zimmern in 1973. On the tower quarter-boy figures strike the quarter hours on the

Automaton clock An automaton clock or automata clock is a type of striking clock featuring automatons. Clocks like these were built from the 1st century BC through to Victorian times in Europe. A cuckoo clock is a simple form of this type of clock. The first ...

. It has been designated as a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

St Ewen's Church

St Ewen's church was on the north west corner of the medieval cross-roads, opposite Christ Church on Broad Street. A charter of Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury, confirming a vicar called Turstin at the church and threatening that anyone who interfered with the post would be “firmly bound up in the chains of

anathema The word anathema has two main meanings. One is to describe that something or someone is being hated or avoided. The other refers to a formal excommunication by a Christian denomination, church. These meanings come from the New Testament, where a ...

”, is known as the Charter of Theobald or the Curse of St Ewen. It dates to about 1141 and is the oldest document held by

Bristol Archives Bristol Archives (formerly Bristol Record Office) was established in 1924. It was the first borough record office in the United Kingdom, since at that time there was only one other local authority record office (Bedfordshire Record Office, Bedf ...

. The church was founded in the early 1100s. In 1639, Matthew Hazzard, was appointed vicar of St Ewen's, Bristol. His wife Dorothy Hazzard would allow pregnant women to reside at the parsonage (when they should have been at church) and they also gave homes to families en route to America. The parish was joined with that of Christ Church in 1790. The church was demolished in 1820 to make space for the enlargement of the old Council House, now Bristol Register Office.

Building

The current

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style building, of

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate originally obtained from the Middle Jurassic aged Great Oolite Group of the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its h ...

, was designed by William Paty and built between 1786 and 1791. A

Victorian restoration The Victorian restoration was the widespread and extensive wikt:refurbish, refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England church (building), churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century Victorian era, re ...

was carried out in 1883 by Henry Williams.

Worship

Worship at Christ Church follows the 1662

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...

and the parish supports the work of the Prayer Book Society in promoting the use of traditional liturgy throughout the Church of England. Scripture readings are taken from the

Authorised Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...

of the Bible. The Parochial Church Council has passed Resolutions A, B and C and does not accept the ministry of women priests. It receives

alternative episcopal oversight A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction "are unable to receive the ministry of w ...

from the

Bishop of Oswestry The Bishop of Oswestry is a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Lichfield who fulfils the role of a provincial episcopal visitor in the Church of England. Since 2023, Paul Thomas has been the Bishop of Oswestry. Background Following the first ...

(currently Paul Thomas).

References

External links

Christ Church on ChurchCrawler

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bristol, Christ Church with Saint Ewen Churches completed in 1791

Christ Church with St Ewen Christ Church with St Ewen () is a Church of England parish church in Broad Street, Bristol, Broad Street, Bristol, England. Christ Church was built between 1786 and 1791. The tower appears to have been designed by Thomas Paty who was architect ...

Georgian architecture in Bristol Grade II* listed churches in Bristol 18th-century Church of England church buildings Church of England churches receiving AEO

St Ewen's Church

Building

Worship

See also

References

External links