St Stephen

(City Parish Church)

CITY

Bristol

The proud church tower, 152 feet tall, rises still over what Bristolians call "The Centre", but without the tower the church would only be visible from St Stephen's Street as tall office buildings hem it and its small churchyard park in on three and a half sides. It competes with other towers of our age such as the Colston Tower (above right) and is of four stages. It is crowned by an openwork parapet and four angle pinnacles, of which there are also examples at Gloucester Cathedral, Cardiff St John and much more locally Thornbury and Dundry parish churches. This example dates from 1470, the parapet being restored three times, following storm damage in 1703 , in 1914 and again in 1970. Now peeping over the offices into the rush of traffic which is today's centre, it is hard to imagine that here was once the hustle and bustle of the wharfs of the docks, and the tall masts and furled sails of the many boats which gave Bristol much of its prosperity. Even harder to believe that this course of the River Frome was made c1248, the church originally stood outside of the walls of the city beyond the original course of the Frome.

The church itself is much older in origin but nothing remains structurally of the previous church. The entire church was rebuilt jointly by the parishioners and the Abbey of St Peter Gloucester in 1470 and John Shipward bore the entire cost of the new tower. The damage caused in 1703 by "The Great Storm" (which also blew down Eddystone Lighthouse and damaged Widecombe-in-the-Moor and Fairford churches amongst many other buildings) was extensive, to the roofs, clerestory and the pews of the nave and south aisle. The storm also caused an immense high tide which flooded the church to a depth of five inches. The uniform appearance of the Perpendicular town church was perfected again in the various C19 restorations 1875-1898, which also unaccountably destroyed the original six-light east window, replacing it with the current one of five lights.

The main entrance is via the south porch, and there are several steps down from the street into the church. This has some unusual features, no less the late appearance of an ogee arch over the outer entrance and the internal cusping to the arch itself. Inside is beautiful fan-vaulting with two pendant bosses.

The interior is grand and uniform, although the plan is irregular because the church was made as large as the site allowed. The tower stands at the south-west corner, the nave west wasll slopes considerably, the north arcade "colliding" into it. The former east window matched the one at the west end. Below is a large cloth of gold, original placed here in 1957 but since replaced following an arson attack. It hides a high Victorian reredos of 1875, and as a mark of the changing taste of our times the church is considering restoring this Victoriana and removing the curtain. Hurrah!! (I was lucky enough to be shown a glimpse of the original reredos, and support this idea. Fine panelled ceilings with gold bosses adorn the church.

In fact the interior of the church is lovingly kept, the small angels capitals of the arcades are picked out in gold and red. Much is owed to the support of the Society of Merchant Venturers.

Other Victorian work is evident in the church, the font under the tower stands amid a fine tiled floor, and the pulpit is encrusted with saints in niches. (Behind the pulpit, above, can be glimpsed the memorial of Martin Pring, a seafarer, explorer and merchant, who discovered Cape Cod and died in 1627.)

Many memorials were destroyed in the Victorian restoration, but three fine tombs survive. The first on the left was discovered in the south aisle in 1844. The only decipherable part of the inscription was the name Walter, and is almost certainly Walter Tyddesley (Tididstille) M.P. for Bristol in 1385, the same year he died. It was moved into one of three recesses discovered in 1844 in the north aisle, the centre one of which was found to have a rich ogee arch, a tomb chest with six statuettes under ogee niches on which rest the effigies of a man and woman, almost certainly Edmund Blanket , a wealthy clothier who is supposed to have given his name to the bed-covering familiar today. The picture on the right shows the tomb of Sir George Snygge, at the east end of the south aisle who died in 1617.

The church preserves sevral fittings brought here from the blitzed ruins of St Nicholas. Firstly there is a pre-Reformation brass eagle lectern of c1480 (similar to that at Bovey Tracey in Devon), a pair of splendid wrought-iron gates by William Edney, and a fine sword rest by the same craftsman early C18.

Minor interior alterations of recent times have created an office in the west end of the north aisle. This enables work to happen whilst the church remains open for the benefit of the citizens of Bristol, workers in the financial centre, and of course ChurchCrawlers. The church has its own excellent website and is generally open Monday- Friday 1000-1600. It also has an excellent cafe, accessed either from the churchyard or from the south aisle to the right of Sir George Snygge's tomb.

Page created 14th January 2002

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