Video Created by Dan Gardner at Woven Films.

St Philip and St Jacob Church is considered to be the oldest centre of Christian worship in the Bristol area, and was built outside the original city walls just beyond the castle. A small Benedictine priory stood here in the year 900 A.D, and the chancel area of the present church is thought to be the site of its chapel. St. Philip’s Church was most likely built by Robert Earl of Gloucester who also built the Priory Church of St James and in 1126 rebuilt Bristol Castle. The first official mention of the church is in 1174 when it is described as one of the 'fees' (fiefs) of William Earl of Gloucester. Of that early church, only the font remains. The oldest part of the present building dates from the early thirteenth century.

The district around Bristol was first made a Church diocese in 1542 (the city having previously been in the Worcester diocese), and St Philip's came within the responsibility of the first Bishop of Bristol, Paul Bush.

A hundred years later the church was nearly destroyed in the Civil War. On 17th July 1643 the colonel in charge of the Parliamentary army in Bristol ordered the demolition of two churches St Philip's and St Peter's fearing that Royalist troops would use them as a base for attacking the castle, as cannon could be placed on the roof.. However, before this order could be carried out, Prince Rupert arrived with 20,000 soldiers. A small iron cannon ball that was found by workmen in the church tower in 1915 could well be a relic of the Civil War. Contemporary records suggest that the Parliamentary soldiers also used the church to stable their horses.  

In 1279 there was a scandal afoot concerning Peter de la Mare, then the constable of the Castle of Bristol and William de Lay who fled to this church in seek of refuge. A bit like the scene in Les Miserables were Jean Valjean seeks refuge in the church of Bishop Myriel. Where as Jean Valjean nicked all the Bishop's silver and got away with it William de Lay was not so fortunate. Peter de la Mare and his accomplacises found William in this church, dragged him back to the Castle, locked him up and eventually cut of his head! As a punishment for infringing the privileges of the church, among other more gruesome things, Peter de la Mare was made to build a stone cross in the churchyard and feed 100 poor around it on a certain day each year.

During the the 18th Century the Methodist movement was founded and both John Wesley and George Whitefield preached in the very pulpit we see today. Throughout the 18th and 19th Century the church in Bristol was growing significantly as the population boomed and over these years thirteen churches were planted within the, our then, vast parish to make provision for the growing demand.

Moving more into our recent history the building escapes destruction once more. During the second World War the blitz brought vast amounts of destruction to our doorstep. The area which is now Castle Park was once a busy and bustling neighbourhood with St Peter’s Church, which you can still see the bombed out shell of today, at the heart of it.     

After the war much of the area both residential and retail had been destroyed and although St. Philip and St Jacob Church remained, the number of people who lived in the area and therefore attended church declined rapidly. By 1960 spiralling maintenance costs and a small, mainly elderly, congregation nearly marked the end for this church once more.

The church we see today is a 13 century structure with alterations made nearly every century after that. It exhibits many features that the Victorians added or changed including the large bathstone clad columns, which replaced the early English arcade style, that support the roof structure, and tombstones set in the walls. During this period the churchyard had become full and in 1867 plans were made to neatly level it and form pleasant gardens. This was carried out some thirteen years later after detailed records were made showing the exact position of the graves and vaults. A book was also compiled where all legible inscriptions on tombstones (and partly legible) were recorded. However, over 100 stones were totally illegible. A few were placed on walls inside the church and act as a memorial today. Many of the rest were used as paving slabs in the churchyard and have worn badly over the last 100 years. 

In 1907, around the same time the gravestones were used to pave the inside of the church, the current pews were installed in the nave. Choir stalls were installed at this same time which have since been removed along with the split organ. 

Kemy's Aisle on the north east end of the building was once used as a side chapel however due to growing demad for childrens work, in the 70's partitions were installed to make seperate spaces which could be used for sunday club. Demand for spaces to use for groups not just on Sunday grew and in the 80's the extension to the south side was constructed which housed contempoary toilet and kitchen facilites as well as meeting rooms and offices.

We have high hopes for our historic church building and believe it has a an important role to play as a sign post to the centuries of history that have gone before in a quickly developing city-scape. Our vision is to see this site reach it's full potential and lead by example as an historic building with a cutting edge contemporary use. Working with our architect we have draw up a plan to first bring the building back up to a good level of repair and then onward to improve and develop the site to meet the needs of today. Over the next 10 years our 'Release' project will see this building become a significant element of the city centre, offering solutions to contempoary needs in a hisotric setting.