Features / Old City
The story of a church dismantled brick by brick and rebuilt a mile and a half away
It’s a tale as old as time.
A church dating back hundreds of years is said to have been dismantled brick by brick due to the need to road-widening, and partly rebuilt a mile and a half away, giving its name to a new Bristol neighbourhood.
Where the old church used to stand is now a cocktail bar, with student accommodation currently being built on the floors above.
is needed now More than ever
St Werburgh’s Church stood on the corner of Corn Street and Small Street before it was dismantled in 1877 – photo: Bristol Archives
An office building on the site of the former church is currently being turned into student accommodation – photo: Martin Booth
Meanwhile, in its new location a mile and a half away, the former St Werburgh’s Church has become a climbing centre known simply as The Church.
The Grade II*-listed building on Mina Road still has a number of original features including choir stalls, a large octagonal pulpit, various late 18th century and 19th century wall tablets, and the tomb of John Barker who was buried in the old St Werburgh’s Church in 1607.
The new St Werburgh’s Church gave its name to the new neighbourhood in an area that was previously known as Baptist Mills – photo: Martin Booth
The medieval St Werburgh’s Church on the corner of Corn Street and Small Street was rebuilt by James Bridges in 1758 in a manner “by eighteenth century standards notably conservative and cautious” according to An Architectural History: Bristol. by Gomme, Jenner and Little.
Old illustrations and maps of Bristol clearly show the spire of St Werburgh’s alongside other churches no longer standing including St Leonard’s at the western end of Corn Street, St Ewen’s on the site of the register office at the other end of Corn Street and St Augustine’s on what is now the Marriott Royal hotel on College Green.
On Millerd’s map of Bristol from 1671, St Werburgh’s church is marked with the letter ‘n’ – map courtesy of Bristol Archives
The original church to St Werburgh, a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon princess and patron saint of Chester, was founded within the walled town of Bristol as early as 1190 and rebuilt in 1760.
But the number of parishioners had been dwindling for many years and was just 18 in the census of 1871.
This was coincidentally the same year that the parish priest, John Hall, died – prompting Bristol’s Streets Improvement Committee to investigate the costs and options for removing the church and its neighbouring churchyard in order to improve the traffic flow along an increasingly busy thoroughfare.
It was a matter of much debate whether the church and its tower should be kept or taken down, with an Act of Parliament eventually passed in 1876 to enable its removal and the uniting of the parish of St Werburgh’s with the adjoining parish of All Saints.
But arguments rumbled on whether or not to keep the spire, with councillors in February 1877 reversing their previous decision made in December not to retain the tower in situ, until it was decided to re-erect it if possible on Mina Road.
Looking down Corn Street from Wine Street in 1820, with the spire of St Werburgh’s clearly visible – image: Bristol Archives
Looking down Corn Street from Wine Street today – photo: Martin Booth
Know Your Place Bristol tells of the “urban legend” of how the entire medieval church was dismantled stone by stone and re-erected in the neighbourhood to which it gave its name.
“There was certainly the initial ambition to re-use all of the old church, but close inspection of the stonework in historic photographs shows it in a parlous condition, weathered and decayed, and a decision is likely to have been quickly taken that it was impossible to practically re-use.
“One key difference is that the stone in the Victorian church is Bath Stone, not the original Dundry Stone of the historic building, showing that nothing of the original superstructure found its way across town.
“The architect, J Bevan, was required by the Lord Chancellor, who granted demolition of the old building in 1877, only that it should be ‘reproduced’ as it was, and he went about designing a new church with an archaeological attention to detail.
“He made a number of substantial changes in the design of the new church including the extension of the building from the original, adding one whole structural bay to the nave, and a further 19 feet with a new chancel.
“The orientation of the tower was changed, a west elevation and west porch added where none had previously existed, and the design of the window tracery improved.
“Whatever remained of the original oak roof isn’t known but the structure of the new church roof was of pitch-pine.
“Contemporary, newspaper reports praise Mr Bevan following ‘as nearly as possible the architecture of the old St Werburgh’s’, and had ‘pursued as far possible the character of the old building’.
“Reports describe the new church as ‘reproduced exactly’, not rebuilt, but none tell of the stonework being dismantled with care, carried across town, and rebuilt.
“Some elements were removed and transported, and newspapers mention only the old organ, and memorials having been transferred.
“St Werburgh’s is, as we see it today, a Victorian church through and through, albeit one that consciously drew on its predecessor in spirit.”
When it was built, St Werburgh’s Church gave its name to an area of Bristol previously known as Baptist Mills – photo: Martin Booth
Work to dismantle the church and tower on Corn Street began on August 22 1877 and the new St Werburgh’s Church on Mina Road held its first service on September 30 1879, with its final service held on Remembrance Sunday 1988.
On the original site of St Werburgh’s Church on the corner of Corn Street and Small Street is a Grade II-listed office building, Hanover House, built in 1878 just one year after the church was taken down, with Dirty Martini cocktail bar on ground level.
The upper floors are currently being turned into a 26-bed purpose-built student accommodation scheme by Bath-based Rengen Developments due to be ready by September 2024.
Hanover House was built in 1878, the year after St Werburgh’s church on the site was demolished for road-widening – photo: Martin Booth
A St Werburgh’s parish boundary marker still able to be found in the Old City – photo: Martin Booth
Join Martin Booth on a walking tour to find out more about some of the hidden corners of the Old City and Castle Park. For more information and to book your place, visit www.yuup.co/experiences/explore-bristol-s-quirkiest-corners
Main image: Bristol Archives
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