Bristol Cathedral
Bristol Cathedral
Bristol Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is a Grade I church on College Green, seat of the Bishop of Bristol, begun as St Augustine’s Abbey in 1140 and raised to cathedral rank in 1542.
- Location
- Bristol, City of Bristol
- Country
- England
- County
- City of Bristol
- City / town
- Bristol
- Address
- College Green, Bristol, City of Bristol, BS1 5TJ
- Postcode
- BS1 5TJ
- Built
- Abbey founded 1140; hall-church east end c.1298–1330; nave 1868–77; west towers completed 1888
- Consecrated
- 1148 (abbey); cathedral from 1542
- Architect
- G E Street (nave); J L Pearson (west towers)
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Holy Trinity
- Diocese
- Bristol
- Parish
- Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Decorated Gothic hall church; Gothic Revival nave
- Materials
- Dundry and Felton limestone ashlar; later work in Bath stone
- Grid reference
- ST 583 727
- Opening hours
- The Cathedral is open every day and admission is free. From Monday to Friday the Cathedral is open to visitors from 8am until 5pm, unless you wish to attend Choral Evensong or Evening Prayer at 5.15pm. On Saturdays and Sundays we are open from 8am until 3.15pm, unless you wish to attend Choral Evensong at 3.30pm.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets in church
Overview
Historic England lists the cathedral with chapter house and cloisters. St Augustine’s Abbey was founded by Robert Fitzhardinge in 1140; the chapter house of about 1160 and parts of the cloister survive. The Elder Lady Chapel of 1220 was followed by the Berkeley Chapel (c.1300), the eastern Lady Chapel and chancel of 1300–30 under Abbot Knowle, and the Newton Chapel of 1330–40. The fourteenth-century east end is a hall church with vaults of equal height in choir and aisles. The crossing tower is of about 1470–1515. After the Dissolution of 1539 the incomplete nave was lost; Henry VIII made the remainder a cathedral in 1542.
G. E. Street built a new nave in 1868–77 on the medieval foundations; J. L. Pearson completed the west towers in 1888. Medieval work uses Dundry and Felton pale limestone ashlar (the Elder Lady Chapel is rubble with ashlar dressings); later additions use Bath stone. Pevsner judged the fourteenth-century work superior to anything else built in England at the same time.