St Mary le Port Church, Bristol

Infobox Historic building


caption=
name=St Mary le Port Church
location_town=Bristol
location_country=England
latitude=51.454789
longitude=-2.592076
map_type=Bristol
architect=
client=
engineer=
construction_start_date=
completion_date=15th century
date_demolished=(partially)24 November, 1940
cost=
structural_system=
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St Mary le Port is a ruined parish church in the centre of Bristol, England. It is said to have been founded in Saxon times, and rebuilt and enlarged between the 11th and 16th centuries.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries the church was a very popular centre of evangelical, Protestant, and Calvinist teaching within Anglicanism.

The church was bombed in the Second World War on 24 November, 1940. All that remains is the 15th century tower, a grade II listed building, [cite web | title= Tower of Church of St Mary-le-Port | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=379770 | accessdate=2007-03-22] which during the latter years of the 20th century was surrounded by the buildings of Norwich Union and the Bank of England. A new building development is now proposed.

It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. [cite web | title= Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Bristol | publisher=Bristol City Council | url=http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/stream/asset/?asset_id=1157007 | format= PDF | accessdate=2007-05-07]

After the bombing in 1940 the congregation and their rector, William Dodgson-Sykes, moved to St John on the Wall Church, where the congregation remained, in gradually declining numbers, till this church building was closed for worship by the Church Commissioners in 1984 (after a protracted struggle by the congregation). The remaining congregation then moved to the Chapel of Foster's Almshouses, and joined the Church of England (Continuing) in 1995 [http://www.continuingcofe.org/Journal%2005.pdf] . The C of E (Continuing) no longer lists a congregation in Bristol - some of the congregation joined with the new Free Presbyterian Church (Ulster) congregation in Horfield, Bristol.

Clergy of St Mary-le-Port church

Include (very incomplete list):
* William Waite, rector, born 1764, died 1842, dates at St Mary le Port unknown [http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/data1/dg/methodist/bio/biow.html]
* William Tandey, curate 1784 - 1799 (lived 1750-1832) [http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/data1/dg/methodist/bio/biot.html]
* James Marshall, rector 1842 - (born 23 February, 1796, died 29 August, 1855):: [http://www.dwalker.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Fasti%20Web%20pages/p.%20121%20The%20Tolbooth.htm]
* Mr Thomas, rector, resigned 1857
* Samuel Abraham Walker, rector 1857 - 1879 (born Dublin, 1809, died 30 November, 1879) (source, The Gospel Magazine, January, 1880)
* James Ormiston, rector 1880 (and as at the 1901 census) (previously at Old Hill, West Midlands; editor of The Gospel Magazine from 1895-1916)
* William Dodgson Sykes, rector (as at 1940) (editor of The Gospel Magazine from 1964-1975):: - son of William Sykes (first President of the Sovereign Grace Union):: - Principal of the Bible Churchmen's Missionary and Theological College, later part of Trinity College, Bristol:: (Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society, now Crosslinks [http://www.crosslinks.org/] ):: - Head of the Irish Church Missions

References

ee also

* Grade II listed buildings in Bristol
* Churches in Bristol

External pages about the church building

:Historic Building::* [http://www.geocities.com/churchcrawler/bristol/marylept.htm ChurchCrawler page: detailed text & many photos] ::* [http://www.about-bristol.co.uk/chu-02.asp "About Bristol" page ] ::* [http://www.lookingatbuildings.org.uk/default.asp?Document=3.C.2,3 "Looking at Buildings" (Pevsner) page] ::* [http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?pid=2&id=379770 Tower of Church of St Mary-le-Port grade II listed from Images of England] :New Development::* http://www.stmaryleport.com::* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/4131106.stm BBC article]