England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Bristol St Augustine

The Parish

The city of Bristol lies in the extreme south of Gloucestershire forming part of the border with neighbouring Somerset. Bristol is located roughly 120 miles west of London and sits on the River Avon at the point where it ceases to be navigable and is served by numerous major roads of which the A4 leads to London and the A38 to Birmingham. Bristol has a long and distinguished history, the pre-Roman Britons named it Caer Briton and the Romans adopted it as Abona. It is as one of England's most significant ports that Bristol rose to become the major city of southwestern England, trade growing the port into a city of well over 100,000 population. Sadly much of that growth was fueled by Bristol's involvement in the slave trade, a trade now subject to revaluation by today's society. Besides the trade and commerce occasioned by the port, Bristol is also a major manufacturing centre and home for numerous service industries; it remains the major place of employment in its area and a major market for produce from a broad hinterland. St Augustine served the western area of the city including the areas of Brandon Hill and the Floating Harbour, it also formed the border with neighbouring Somerset with Bedminster parish. Bristol has also benefited from modern developments, the Kennet & Avon canal being followed by Brunel's railway line to London and others to both north and south. In more recent times the modern M4 & M5 motorways pass by the city with its own dedicated motorway, the M32 connecting it to the former. St Augustine today is a mixture of gentrified dockland and residential & commercial areas . Bristol is drained the short distance to the nearby Bristol Channel by the Avon through its famous gorge. St PAugustine parish is sited at around 10 metres above the sea with most of the city at that height or indeed lower, land rises to the height of 80 metres in the suburb of Cotham.St Augustine parish was one of the most populated of the city's parishes with some sources claiming as many as 8,500 parishioners within its remit.  Bristol, being already a substantial settlement, is not specifically detailed as to its assets in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Augstine's church sat on St Augustine's Parade more or less opposite Baldwin Street. The formal dedication was to St Augustine the Less to distinguish the church from the city's cathedral also dedicated to Augustine. The church is first mentioned in documents from the mid-13th century wherein it was created to serve residents outside the grounds of the Abbey that became the cathedral. That early church was completely rebuilt in the late 15th century in a Perpendicular style with a 5-bay aisled nave, chancel and western tower in the conventional layout fashionable at the time. In the early 18th century the church was enlarged eastwards with a further bay and typically received both Georgian & Victorian restorations in the 19th century. Declining attendances in the 20th century saw it lose its importance in favour of St George Brandon Hill and following extensive bombing damage during the Bristol Blitz it was finally demolished in 1962. Today the site is underneath harbour-side commercial premises.