A Brief History of St. Martin’s Knowle.
The Early church in Knowle
Initially our area of Knowle was part of the original parish of Holy Nativity, but as Bristol developed, Knowle on the outskirts became a popular place to live.
As the local population grew it became necessary to seek additional premises for worship and in the winter of 1885 possession was agreed of a skittle alley connected to the Red Lion Inn on the Wells Road. It was said of this room “that by judicious manipulation it was transformed into a room of quaint proportions holding up to 200 persons” (what must it have been like in there). Here were held Mission services, Sunday Schools, Mothers meetings and Social gatherings.
This is how the present St Martin’s was born and developed.
By 1889, the Skittle Alley was in very poor repair and by now too small to meet local needs so in 1890 the land to the east of the Wells Road, the site of the present Church was gifted for the purpose of a Church by Lord Temple.
The land was leveled and fenced in and a wooden church designed by the Diocesan Architect of Worcester was built. This wooden church was first open for worship in July 1891.
The first Sermon was preached by the Rev.John Richard Wykenham Stafford, the vicar of Whitchurch, Dorset but shortly to become Priest in charge of the new Church until 1896.
In the years 1891 to 1899 the little Church survived harsh financial times but as the local population grew so did the congregation and the need for a new larger Church became necessary.
The Present Church
30th June, 1900. Foundation stone of the Church laid.
By Mrs Forest Browne, Wife of the Lord Bishop of the Diocese.
23rd April 1901. The Church is Consecrated
29th September 1906. Formal separation of St Martin’s from Holy Nativity.
June 1907 First Church Magazine
29th June 1907 Additional two bays to the Nave consecrated.
November 1909 The Church font is dedicated
November 1910 The Church Pulpit is dedicated by the Archdeacon of Bristol.
2nd November 1912 Foundation stone laid for Church Hall
22nd April 1913 Church Hall opened
10th October 1920 Rood screen and first world war memorial dedicated by the Archdeacon of Bristol.
1922 The Church gets Electric lighting.
5th August 1931 Mission building, “St Martin’s in the Fields” dedicated on “The Square”
June 1932 The parish magazine sells 1000 copies in a month.
25th May 1940 Church extension dedicated by the Archdeacon of Bedford.
The Archdeacon was W. A. robins the first Vicar of the new Church in 1901
1963 Original church magazine ceased publication.
It was replaced for a short period by a Diocesan news sheet.
1973 Team ministry with Holy Nativity formed
1973 Church magazine revived
1992 Team ministry dissolved
9th July 2000 Second world war memorial tablet was dedicated.
23rd April 2001 Church celebrates its Centenary
July 2004 The Church installs a Kitchen and Facilities for the disabled in the Church.
July 2004 The church refurbishes its Organ originally installed from a Chapel in Swansea in 1986
July 2005 The Church roof is refurbished after almost 5 years of fund raising by the congregation and people of Knowle.
The Church Architect. W. V. Gough of Bridge Street.
Not many people are aware that the same architect who built Cabot Tower was in fact the Architect responsible for the design of the original Holy Nativity which, apart from the tower, was destroyed by bombing during the Second World War, and St Martin’s.
Holy Nativity was Venn Gough’s first Church built in 1878. St Martin’s in 1901 was about half way through his career.
He was described as “a rogue Architect” and his churches, “like everything else he did” as “bizarre and unpredictable”
Venn Gough’s last church was St Ambrose’s in Whitehall in 1912/13, sometimes known as the Cathedral of East Bristol.
Opinions of Venn Gough’s work has always been mixed and although mention of St Martin’s is sparse it “does have much to commend it”. His work for the Port of Bristol Authority in Queen Square is described as a “Calamity” and St Aldhelm’s Bedminster as “giving the appearance of being put together by a child with a box of colours and elaborately carved bricks”
Some of Venn Gough’s other works include,
The White Hart. Bedminster Parade
The Coopers Arms, Ashton Gate
Colston Girls School
Ford Memorial Hall, Mill lane Bedminster
Western Counties Co-operative warehouse, Redcliffe Back, and more.