SS Philip and Jacob Church, () previously referred to as Pip 'n' Jay, is a

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, ...

in central

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The church that meets there is now called Central. Its full name since 1934 is St Philip and St Jacob with Emmanuel the Unity, although reference to the original church of St Philip exists in records dating from 1174. Historically the 'Mother church of East Bristol', it serves the area known as The Dings.

The building

St Philip and St Jacob refers to itself as the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

's 'oldest place of Christian worship'. The church began as a small priory around AD 900. It was later rebuilt by

Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester (c. 1090 – 31 October 1147David Crouch, 'Robert, first earl of Gloucester (b. c. 1090, d. 1147)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200Retrieved ...

, who also built the nearby priory of St James'. All that remains of the original church is the font, although parts of 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. Ov ...

and tower date from at least the 13th Century. The building was extended during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

to include the present-day

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, the pillars of which are actually Victorian additions, possibly by William Armstrong. The tower contains eight bells dating from 1738 and made by William Bilbie of the

Bilbie family The Bilbie family were bell founders and clockmakers based initially in Chew Stoke, Somerset and later at Cullompton, Devon in south-west England from the late 17th century to the early 19th century. Their importance to the local economy and ...

. Around 186
new plans
were submitted by

John Bindon John Dennis Arthur Bindon (4 October 1943 – 10 October 1993) was an English actor and bodyguard who had close links with the London underworld. The son of a London cab driver, Bindon was frequently in trouble as a youth for getting into figh ...

Richard Shackleton Pope Richard Shackleton Pope (c. 1793 – 10 February 1884) was a British architect working mainly in Bristol. His father was a clerk of works for Sir Robert Smirke, and Pope succeeded him, also working for C.R. Cockerell. He moved to Bristol to ...

and Thomas Shackleton Pope and accepted for the rebuilding of the church. An extension was also added to the south-east corner of the church during the 1980s, comprising meeting rooms, a kitchen and other facilities. The building is an

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

Grade II* 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 Irel ...

listed structure.

Closure threats

During the

English civil war The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

the demolition of the church was ordered (along with nearby St Peter's) to prevent its use as a fortress for attacking the city of Bristol. However, reinforcements arriving in the city meant that the building was saved. In the early 1960s, the church was again threatened with closure, but managed to avoid becoming a

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. ...

due to the vision and determination of its then-small

congregation A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: * Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...

, who adopted both the motto 'Seek First' (from Matthew Chapter 6, verse 33) and, uniquely, the nickname 'Pip 'n' Jay'.

The church today

Since 1963, St Philip and St Jacob has become one of the leading

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

churches in Bristol. In the 1970s it was part of the Charismatic revival in the

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 Britai ...

. Its

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

was the

Revd The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. ''The Reverend'' is correctly ...

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

Malcolm Widdecombe (1937-2010, brother of Conservative MP

Ann Widdecombe Ann Noreen Widdecombe (born 4 October 1947) is a British politician, author and television personality. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and The Weald, and the former Maidstone constituency, from 1987 to 2010 and Member of the ...

) from 1974 until his retirement in 2009. He died of

metastatic Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...

oesophageal cancer Esophageal cancer is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include difficulty in swallowing and weight loss. Other symptoms may include pain when swallowing, a hoarse voi ...

on 12 October 2010. His son, the Revd Roger Widdecombe, is an Anglican priest. Today, the church supports and sends out many missionaries. The church changed its name in 2018 to Central and currently is led by the Revd Tim Silk who has been incumbent at the church since 2011. The parish has passed Resolution B of the

Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993 The Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993 is a Church of England Measure passed by the General Synod of the Church of England enabling the ordination of women in the Church of England. Both Queen's Consent and Prince's Consent were required t ...

; this means it would not accept a woman as its

The parish

St Philip and St Jacob is one of the original parishes of Bristol. It includes the Old Market area, and extended beyond the original city boundaries to include what are now the Bristol districts of

Baptist Mills Baptist Mills an area of the city of Bristol, England. The name derives from the former mills which stood in that area. Geology The solid geology of Baptist Mills comprises Triassic Redcliffe Sandstone, which is overlain by superficial deposits ...

, Barton Hill,

Lawrence Hill Lawrence Hill (born January 24, 1957) is a Canadian novelist, essayist, and memoirist. He is known for his 2007 novel '' The Book of Negroes,'' inspired by the Black Loyalists given freedom and resettled in Nova Scotia by the British after the ...

, Newtown, Russell Town, St Jude's, St Philips Marsh, The Dings and part of Easton. A growing population in the 19th century led to the building of ten new churches in the east of the parish, seven of which have now closed. In 1871 Greenbank Cemetery was opened as a burial place for the whole parish. The ancient parish lay within the hundred of Barton Regis.Vision of Britain website
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References

External links

SS Philip & Jacob Church, Bristol
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bristol, Saints Philip and Jacob 13th-century church buildings in England Saint Philip and Saint Jacob Saint Philip and Saint Jacob Grade II* listed churches in Bristol