The Church of All Saints is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

Clifton Clifton may refer to: People * Clifton (surname) * Clifton (given name) Places Australia *Clifton, Queensland, a town ** Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong * Clifton, Western Australia Canada * Clifton, Nova Sc ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

. The church is a

grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

. It is located in the Parish of All Saints with St. John Clifton in the

Diocese of Bristol The Diocese of Bristol is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Church of England in the Province of Canterbury, England. It is based in the city of Bristol and covers South Gloucestershire and parts of north Wiltshire, as far east ...

History

In 1862, a committee was set up to provide a large church for the

area of

. It would be in the

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglica ...

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

, and would be a free church with no rented pews. The original church was built between 1868 and 1872 by

George Edmund Street George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Victorian Gothic Revival. Though mainly an eccle ...

. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. ...

was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different gro ...

on 8 June 1868. A

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narth ...

was added in 1909 by

George Frederick Bodley George Frederick Bodley (14 March 182721 October 1907) was an English Gothic Revival architect. He was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott, and worked in partnership with Thomas Garner for much of his career. He was one of the founders of Watt ...

, and a

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually locate ...

was added in 1928 by

Frederick Charles Eden Frederick Charles Eden (8 March 1864 – 15 July 1944) was an English church architect and designer. Frederick Eden was born in Brighton, Sussex, England. He was the son of Frederick Morton Eden and Louisa Ann Parker. Eden was a pupil and later ...

. On 2 December 1940, an

incendiary bomb Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, t ...

set fire to the building, destroying the chancel and nave of the church. Only the tower, narthex, and sacristy remained standing. W. H. Randoll Blacking was the architect chosen to reconstruct the church, but, after much delay, he died before work could begin. In the 1960s, it was once more decided that the rebuilding of the church should go ahead and Robert Potter was selected as the architect. He reorientated the church so that the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in pagan ...

now faces East. The altar itself is free standing and is set under a ciborium, a four-columned indoor roof. Behind the

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a " sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mo ...

is a series of stained glass windows made from

fibre glass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clot ...

and designed by John Piper. The new nave and altar were consecrated on 1 July 1967. On 8 January 1959, the church was designated a

Present day

In 1978, the parish of All Saints Clifton was joined with that of St John's Clifton to form the Parish of All Saints with St. John Clifton. St John's Church was declared redundant in 1980. In March 2013, the parochial church council voted to rescind Resolutions A and B, and to rescind the petition for

alternative episcopal oversight A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction, "are unable to receive the ministry of ...

. With these actions, the parish signalled that it accepts the

ordination of women The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordin ...

. It remains within the

of the Church of England.

Notable people

* Cedric Bucknall, organist

Clergy

Henry Bromby Henry Bodley Bromby (1840-1911) was the second Dean of Hobart, serving from 1877 to 1884. Early life and education Bromby was born into an ecclesiastical family. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge. Ordained ministry Bromby was ordained ...

, former vicar, previously

Dean of Hobart The Cathedral Church of St David in Hobart is the principal Anglican church in Tasmania, Australia. The dean (as of March 2009) is the Very Reverend Richard Humphrey. Consecrated in 1874, St David's is the seat of the Bishop of Tasmania. It is ...

* Fabian Jackson, former vicar, later Bishop of Trinidad *

Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch (; born 31 October 1951) is an English academic and historian, specialising in ecclesiastical history and the history of Christianity. Since 1995, he has been a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford; he was forme ...

, non-stipendiary

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

from 1987 to 1988, later Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford * Richard Randall, first vicar from 1868 and 1892, later

Dean of Chichester The Dean of Chichester is the dean of Chichester Cathedral in Sussex, England. Bishop Ralph is credited with the foundation of the current cathedral after the original structure built by Stigand was largely destroyed by fire in 1114. Ralph ...

Gallery

File:All Saints Bristol 01.jpg , Church tower with spire File:All Saints Bristol 04.jpg , Stained glass window by John Piper File:All Saints Bristol 07.jpg , Altar with ciborium File:All Saints Bristol 09.jpg , Nave with large windows File:All Saints Bristol 07b altar ciborium.jpg , The Chancel with a

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...

set into the wall

References

External links

Parish websiteA Church Near You entry
{{Culture in Bristol

All Saints, Clifton The Church of All Saints is a Church of England parish church in Clifton, Bristol. The church is a grade II listed building. It is located in the Parish of All Saints with St. John Clifton in the Diocese of Bristol. History In 1862, a committee ...

All Saints