St James' Priory, Bristol
St James' Priory Church | |
---|---|
51°27′31″N 2°35′37″W / 51.458522°N 2.593669°W | |
Location | Whitson Street, Horsefair, Bristol, England |
Country | United Kingdom |
Denomination | Catholic |
Previous denomination | Catholic,
Clifton |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
Official name | Church of St James' Priory |
Designated | 8 January 1959 |
Reference no. | 1282067 |
The Priory Church of St James, Bristol (grid reference ST588734), is a Grade I listed building[2] in Horsefair, Whitson Street.
Saint James the Greater | |
Controlled churches | The Priory Church of St James, Bristol |
---|---|
Architecture | |
Status | Priory |
Functional status | Active |
It was founded in 1129 as a
The traditional account, as told to John Leland,[4] has it that every tenth stone brought from Normandy to build the Castle was set aside to build the Priory.[6]
Before the recent restoration (see below) the building was on the Historic England Buildings at Risk Register and described as being in very bad condition.[7] However, substantial restoration and reordering work was completed in 2011 and as of 2014 St James Priory is not on the Heritage Buildings at Risk Register.[8][9]
Today, it is an active church within the
Archives
Parish records for St James' Priory, Bristol are held at
St James's Fair
Earl Robert's endowment to the priory in 1137 included permission to hold an annual fair.[4] From 1238 an annual fair held over fifteen days, was held here.[6] Later charters show the original date of the fair to be Whitsun Day, but the inconvenience of the festival changing date each year soon changed the fair day to 25 July, the feast day of St James.[4] It was later changed to the first fortnight in September. The fair, which was held in the Churchyard and adjoining streets, was regarded as the most important of the Bristol Fairs. The income from the Fair meant that St James Church could be richly decorated, in 1498 an elaborate reredos was built to go with the existing rood screen. The contract made it clear that the rood screen should be bigger and better than the one recently erected at St Mary Redcliffe.[4]
The papers from a court case in 1518-19 show that the fair was so popular it had overflowed the boundaries of the graveyard and stalls and booths were sited in the surrounding streets. The entertainments at the fair included theatre,
By the 17th century the fair was so prominent that merchant ships sailing into Bristol for it were frequently attacked by Turkish pirates in the Bristol Channel. The last fair was held in 1837 under pressure from moralists and strict religious people concerned about the corruption of the young and disapproving of such frivolities set in a graveyard.[4] It also subsequently left its mark on the geography of Bristol as a nearby road in Broadmead is called the Horsefair.
The St James Barton roundabout (The Bearpit) retains the name of the Barton or Priory Farm, on which's land the Fair was once held.[4]
St James Priory Project
After the
In 1996 the Little Brothers of Nazareth re-established it as a Catholic church, and set up the St James Priory Project which offers support to vulnerable people especially those with a history of substance dependency and mental illness.
Restoration
Following the award of a
Burials at St James' Priory, Bristol
- Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
- Mabel FitzRobert, Countess of Gloucester
- Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany
-
Monochrome print of St James' church from c.1838. The image shows the church from the south east aspect in the background, with the graveyard (the site of St James' Fair) in the foreground. In the graveyard can be seen a mother with three children standing at a grave.
-
Monochrome illustration of St James' church and Priory ruins, published in 1630. The image shows the church from the south east aspect in the background on the left, with the Priory ruins in the foreground in the centre and on the right. Amongst the ruins can be seen men and women in seventeenth century costume.
-
Monochrome illustration of the west end of St James' church, published in 1820. The image shows the parts of the priory stonemasonry incorporated into the church facade and a jumble of non-ecclesiastical buildings in the foreground including a tall chimney.
See also
- Grade I listed buildings in Bristol
- Churches in Bristol
- List of English abbeys, priories and friaries serving as parish churches
References
- ^ a b "Priory Church of St James". Dove's Guide for Bellringers. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
- ^ a b Historic England. "Church of St James (1282067)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 October 2006.
- ^ M Q Smith, "The Medieval Churches of Bristol", University of Bristol (Bristol Branch of the Historical Association), 1970, p5.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Joseph Bettey, St James Fair Bristol 1137-1837, Avon Local History and Archaeology Society, 2014
- ISBN 0-289-79804-3.
- ^ a b Page, William. "Houses of Benedictine monks: The priory of St James, Bristol". British History Online. Victoria County History. Archived from the original on 13 July 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- ^ "St James Priory, Whitson Street". English Heritage Buildings at Risk Register. Retrieved 26 October 2007.
- ^ "Opening Doors St James Priory". Bristol Opening Doors. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- ^ England, Historic. "Heritage at Risk 2014 Registers - Historic England". www.english-heritage.org.uk. Archived from the original on 4 February 2015.
- ^ "Bristol Archives online catalogue: Record view". archives.bristol.gov.uk.
- ^ "The National Archives: Cambridge University Library: Department of Manuscripts and University Archives". Archived from the original on 29 November 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
- ISBN 978-1908326423.
- ^ "Priory restoration work to begin". BBC News. 16 November 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2009.
- ^ "St James Priory's fine Caryatid in Bristol". SPAB Cornerstone magazine. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- ^ "Medieval stone sundial". Bristol & Region Archaeological Services. Archived from the original on 1 September 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- ^ Davis, John; Mason, Cai (September 2012). "A Medieval Equinoctial Dial Excavated at St James's Priory, Bristol" (PDF). BSS Bulletin. 24 (iii): 36–40. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 March 2015.
- ^ "Topless statue in Priory Church restored after being hidden by John Wesley for 3 centuries". What's on in Tianjin. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2017.