Broadmead Baptist Church, Bristol
Just published - a 24 page tabloid with a selection of photos and accompanying text of my favourite brutalist buildings in Bristol.
The Church Above The Shops
Most people don’t know the Grade II listed Broadmead Baptist Church is there. They see a Tesco Express and walk on by. Few look up and notice the concrete roofline designed to echo the wings of a dove. I know this because at the recent BRUTAL Bristol exhibition we ran two sold-out tours and the majority were previously unaware of its existence. I don’t blame them. It’s easy to miss.
History
Broadmead Baptist Church was founded in 1640 and was the earliest dissenting church in Bristol. Early members faced persecution and met in various locations around Bristol before securing four rooms at the end of Broadmead in 1671.
The chapel was one of the rare buildings in the area to survive the Blitz. In 1940, three Boy Scouts saved it by breaking into the building with an axe and putting out a fire on the staircase caused by an incendiary bomb.
It stood for another 27 years before being demolished to make way for the current building. The chapel leased the ground floor for retail (it’s currently a Tesco Express) and built this new church above.
It was designed by architect, Ronald H Sims, who conceived it as the 'Baptist cathedral of the West'. Building began in1967 and it opened officially in 1969.
Architecture
Look up, above street level, and you will see a corduroy textured concrete facade topped with V-shaped canopies designed to evoke doves in flight.
The Church doesn’t have a grand entrance, nor is it particularly welcome. But as the intercom beeps and you enter (you need to pre-book), it doesn’t take long for the anticipation to build as you climb the stairs. As Historic England so aptly wrote in its official list entry, “the journey from the street entrance to the church was conceptually one of ascending from darkness into light.”
The beautiful interior is a light-filled hall with timber-clad balconies. The timber screen above the baptistry is known as the 'Crowd of Witnesses'. It fans out like a wing (there’s a theme developing here).
A timber spire was removed shortly after opening as it posed a risk to shoppers below.
Image c.1970 via Bristol Archives
Listing
The building was granted Grade II listed status in 2024.
On listing Catherine Croft, Director of the 20th Century Society, commented: “Bristol’s Broadmead Baptist Church is one of the best examples of how it pays to look up: above the dreary façade of a mini-supermarket is a riot of sculptural, expressive concrete forms dancing against the skyline.”
