Features / things you probably didn't know
The former church hidden between two blocks of flats
Unbeknown to many, the remains of a long-forgotten church have appeared on dozens of photographs of a yacht which remains moored with its fake helicopter near Brunel’s Buttery.
Built in the mid-19th century for dock workers, St Raphael’s Church and its neighbouring almshouses on Cumberland Road were damaged by bombing in the Blitz and demolished in 1954.
But an intriguing glimpse of the west front of St Raphael’s still remains sandwiched between two apartment blocks, Perretts Court and The Quays – in a gap through which the incongruous Miss Conduct can currently also be seen.
is needed now More than ever
Miss Conduct can be seen through the west front of what remains of the former St Raphael’s – photo: Martin Booth
St Raphael’s was constructed between the River Avon and the New Cut from 1853 to 1859.
Following a decree from Bishop Ellicott that the character of the services should be changed, which was not followed by the vicar, AH Ward, the church was closed in 1877.
Inside St Raphael’s Church – photo: Bristol Branch of the Historical Association
A friend of Ward is quoted in The Oxford Movement in Nineteenth Century Bristol as saying: “So the little Church on the Cut, so well loved by so many, was closed: the bell was silent, the stripped altar with its wreath of immortelles was left to tell its own tale of desolation. So it remained for fifteen long years.”
After much public support, St Raphael’s was reopened in 1893, and worship continued there until the Second World War.
St Raphael’s Church pre-1928 and today – photos: Bristol Bells
After the war, the church was briefly used as part of a factory that stood on the site before both it and the next door almshouses were knocked down, apart from the tantalising glimpse that still remains standing.
One of the former bells of St Raphael’s is located at St Peter’s Church in Lawrence Weston, where it has hung unbonged since 1961.
Miss Conduct in front of the remains of St Raphael’s – photo: Martin Booth
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read more:
- The story behind Bristol’s two almost identical bridges
- The ornate water features hidden in plain sight
- Bristol’s ghost signs: a faded reminder of the past
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