Broadmead Baptist Church is a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

church in the

Broadmead Broadmead is a street in the Bristol city centre, central area of Bristol, England, which has given its name to the principal shopping district of the city. It is part of Bristol Shopping Quarter. History The name of the street was first rec ...

area of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England. The church was the first dissenting church in Bristol, founded by

Dorothy Hazard Dorothy Hazard was a seventeenth-century English religious reformer who played a part in the defence of the city of Bristol during the English Civil War. Despite her marriage to a Puritan minister, she founded a Dissenter church in Bristol, which b ...

and four other dissenters in 1640. In its early years the church was persecuted and met in various locations around Bristol, but in 1671 the members of the church secured four rooms at the end of Broadmead, which were quickly converted into one large room for use as a chapel. The chapel continued in use until the 1960s. When the Broadmead area was redeveloped the church sold the ground lease for shops and built a new church above. The new church was designed by the architect

Ronald Hubert Sims Ronald Hubert Sims (1923–1999) was a British architect and artist. Influential in the Bournemouth area, he is best known for designing the Punshon Memorial Church which earned him the R.I.B.A. bronze medal in 1958. The church was demolished in 2 ...

and opened in 1969. It features many brutalist elements, with the widespread use of raw concrete alongside timber panelling. When first opened, it featured a laminated timber spire that was removed due to being unsafe.

References

External links

Broadmead Baptist Church website
{{Culture in Bristol Baptist churches in Bristol Churches completed in 1969 1640 establishments in England