14 things you didn’t know about St Mary Redcliffe

It’s a landmark of the Bristol skyline and St Mary Redcliffe has just as distinguished history, with queens, poets and merchants having graced the church across the centuries. Now, as it embarks on a major redevelopment project, here are 13 key facts about the famous Bristol church.

1. A Gothic masterpiece 

The church building is Grade I listed and is of internationally important – a wall of glass surmounted by gilded roof bosses of exquisite beauty, with elegant 18th century ironwork, carved wood and stone, framed by light flooding through stained glass windows.

2. A historic place of worship

St Mary Redcliffe towers above Elizabethan Bristol

Christians have worshipped at the site for over 800 years, with the oldest parts of the site being built in the 12th century. Most of the nave, transepts and choir was created by highly skilled yet unrecorded stonemasons in the 14th and 15th centuries. There is evidence the site was a place of prayer dating back to the Saxon times, when Bristol first became a port – the original quayside was just across the road, below the red sandstone cliff from which this area gets its name, located on what is now Redcliffe Quay.

3. Merchant to Holy man

The burial place of William Canynges is in the church

William Canynges the younger led an impressive life, becoming the major of Bristol five times, and building the largest merchant fleet in England by 1461. He was ordained priest in 1468 after the death of his wife, saying his first mass in St Mary Redcliffe. The generosity of Canynges enabled much of the present glorious church to be built and his tomb can be found in the South Transept.

4. Queen of favours

The church dedicated to the Virgin Mary has a statue to the Virgin Queen, it’s greatest patron

“The fairest, goodliest and most famous parish church in England” was Queen Elizabeth I’s remark on the St Mary Redcliffe in 1574. The Queen did the church a great favour by restoring some of the funds previously confiscated during the Reformation period. These funds have remained in the custody of the St Mary Redcliffe Church Lands Charity ever since.

5. The origins of Pennsylvania

Sir William Penn is buried in the graveyard. Another memorial to Penn is found on the other side of the Atlantic: the state of Pennsylvania

Admiral Sir William Penn loaned large sums to King Charles II for the latter’s re-building of the Royal Navy. Following the Admiral’s death, the monarch was unable to repay the loan to Penn’s son (also called William), and offered him land in America instead. Thus Pennsylvania came into being.
Sir William Penn is buried in the South aisle of St Mary Redcliffe and his funerary armour, banners and his monument are mounted at the west end of the nave. A man of extreme religious convictions, Penn wrote numerous works in which he exhorted believers to adhere to the spirit of Primitive Christianity. He was imprisoned several times in the Tower of London due to his faith, and his book No Cross, No Crown (1669), which he wrote while in prison, has become a Christian classic.

6. The Sunday rush

Rush Sunday in 1910

Before paved floors, rushes were strewn on church floors and it was common for their annual renewal to be a special occasion. The medieval merchant and Mayor of Bristol William Spenser instituted the annual Rush Sunday service, which is one of Bristol’s most historical occasions, dating back to 1493. The Mayor and members of the City Council process into the church across a fragrant floor covering of rushes and herbs, carry traditional posies of flowers to add further colour to the traditional service.

7. The survivor

Temple Church was not as lucky in the Bristol Blitz

St Mary Redcliffe survived a severe thunderstorm in 1446, although a lightning strike did destroy its original medieval spire. The building was also lucky to escape destruction during the Blitz in World War Two, which damaged many churches St Peter’s, the interior of St Nicholas, St Mary-le-Port and Temple Church.

8. A towering figure

At 89 metres, the church’s 19th century spire still makes it the tallest building in Bristol by 9 metres. It’s also the third highest parish church spire in the country. The Church wasn’t destroyed in the Blitz because German pilots used the landmark as an orientation point when navigating above the city.

9. The North porch

The North entrance to the church is spectacular and its inner early English 1185 porch being the oldest part of the building, with the outer part added 150 years later. Octagonal in shape, it is designed with niches to house statues.

10. Pilgrims point

Merchants and pilgrims returning safely to port would stop off at St Mary Redliffe (pictured with original spire) to give thanks for safe passage

The church is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a statue of whom is believed to have been housed in the North porch in medieval times. Pilgrims, including merchants and sailors whose vessels had returned safely to port, may have come to make thank offerings at this shrine.

11. The first English romantic poet

Above the North porch is the Chatterton Room, where the tragic boy poet Thomas Chatterton spent time reading and writing. Chatterton went on write famous poems under the persona Rowley. The poet committed suicide by drinking arsenic in 1770, aged 17.

12. Walk to water      

The start of the pipe walk

The Pipe Walk is an annual event where members of the church walk the route of an 824-year-old pipeline linking the church with an ancient fresh water spring in the Knowle area of Bristol. Throughout the walk, periodic stops are made for manhole inspections of the pipe. It takes in Victoria Park where first-time Pipe Walkers traditionally are ‘bumped’ on one of several old stone markers indicating the route. Also in the park is a labyrinth (a design replicating one of the medieval roof bosses in the church) constructed by Wessex Water in 1984 at the point where the pipe is crossed by a twentieth-century foul water interceptor. Originally made of lead but replaced with cast iron by the Victorians, the pipe was broken by bomb damage in the Second World War.

13. The flying tram rail
During the Bristol Blitz of 1940-41, a bomb exploded in a nearby street, throwing a rail from the tramway over the houses and into the churchyard, where it became embedded in the ground. The rail is left there as a monument.

14. A bright future
St Mary Redcliffe has recently embarked on a major redevelopment, improving access to and around the church, provide improved hospitality and visitor services, develop new office and work spaces and create community spaces and facilities for the benefit of local people. Working closely with the Redcliffe Neighbourhood Development Forum, the project will act as the centrepiece of the wider development of Redcliffe Way.

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