The Dings
St Philip's, Bristol
1860 - 1939
This sizeable church, approximately 105 feet long, was designed by Pope and Bindon, and erected 1860-63. The area of The Dings had compact streets of back-to-back terraced houses, but was considered slums by the 1930s and the area was largely cleared and the residents moved to new estates of council housing in the Bedminster and Knowle West areas of the city.
As a consequence the church also became superfluous and this handsome structure with its wide and lofty clerestoried nave & aisles of six bays and lower apsidal chancel was closed in 1937 and demolished in 1939. There was no tower, just a double bellcote over the chancel arch.
The picture of the interior suggests the form of worship was "low church", the chancel is particularly short and devoid of ornate furniture and embellishments. The arcades have notably low pillars and tall arches, with luxuriant foliated stops in the spandrels and corbels to support the roof. The Ten commandments flank the chancel arch.
During a recent walk around the St Philip's area of Bristol, just by the railway bridge I saw this building. On closer inspection it is the surviving Church Hall of Emmanuel church. This was built as a memorial to Rev. Richard Cornall, the first vicar of the church who died in 1908. The commemoration stone still survives set in the wall to the left of the rusticated doorway.
The building is now in use as a car repair garage.
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