St James' Presbyterian Church of England, Bristol

The remains of the church in 2011

Record of a christening a few hours before the church was bombed

The remains of the Victorian-era St James' Church are just south of the current Bristol coach station. The church was bombed^[1] on 24 November 1940^[2][3] and partly restored as a chapel in 1957. The tower still remains but the nave has now 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 seats 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

1. Page 86 Blitz over Britain by Edwin Webb and John Duncan, 1990, ISBN 0-946771-89-8
2. Bristol Record Office accession 44394
3. Photo of the gutted nave by the Bristol Evening Post newspaper held in the Bristol Records Office

Coordinates: 51°27′31″N 2°35′31″W / 51.4587°N 2.5920°W