# Apostles Cathedral (aka The Bristol Pro-Cathedral)



## krela (Sep 29, 2005)

The Apostles Cathedral was concieved in the 1820s as the catholic cathedral for the south west of england, after a decree from the then pope that england needed to build more places of catholic worship to replace those that had been decimated in the abolition of the monasteries by Henry VIII centuries before.

Designed by architect H.E. Goodridge, the cathedral was laid out as an imposing corinthian temple with large catacombs, corinthian columns and decorative stonework surrounds. Unfortunately half way into the work it was discovered that the land on which they were building was significantly more unstable than assumed, and massive underpinning works had to be done which used up much of the funding.

The building you see today is very different to the one intended, instead of the corinthian columns they are simple plain ones, and only the frontage is ornately carved (and now rotting away in the acid rain). The cathedral was eventually replaced by the ultra contemporary 'Cathedral Church of SS Peter and Paul' half a mile away which opened in 1973.


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## Bishop (Oct 20, 2005)

In the Evening Post last week there was a small piece on the Apostles or
Pro Cathedral, piece gave a short inaccurate history of the church and
school. Only piece of any interest was this below.



> After being vacated by the Steiner Waldorf school which bought the site
> for £100,000 in the mid-seventies (but couldn't afford restoration), the
> site is to be devloped as part of a £12 million pound scheme which will
> include flats, town houses and a restaurant.
> ...



They'll ruin it. It wouldn't surprise me if the developers accidently demolish
the lot, that tactic seems quite popular these days.

Bishop


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## dweeb (Oct 21, 2005)

No Bishop you are wrong! Apartments are cool, only improve an old building, and they wont demolish it, not in the persuit of money surely?!
Oh, and if they covered it in grey panel, it would be awesome!!!

How on earth can you turn that place into flats?!? What, does one lucky owner get the big hall as his kitchen, and the less fortunate get the cellers for bedrooms? Perhaps a crappy artificial floor deviding the main hall into two will be the answer?
Whatever they do it is going to be shit, i'd put a months wages on it!


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## Duck (Nov 26, 2005)

Anybody have any idea when they are planning to start the development? Would love to come up and have a look before they do...


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## krela (Nov 27, 2005)

Duck said:


> Anybody have any idea when they are planning to start the development? Would love to come up and have a look before they do...



Who knows, it's not happened yet I don't think, and probably wont for a while.


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## Bishop (Mar 23, 2006)

Article in my local paper today on the Pro Cathedral/Steiner Waldorf
School, local residents and businesses are getting a bit pissed off 
about the state of the place.

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=14231676&folderPk=83726




> Andrew Fisher, managing director for Ashfield Land, said: "Of course we are concerned about the state of the building but these things take a while to get sorted out and there have been a lot of complications."
> 
> "We have had some awful problems with security but it's very hard to stop people doing these kinds of things."



Awful problems with security? What security?

Bishop


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## turkey (Apr 16, 2006)

*The Apostles Cathedral*

When we were down this way a few months ago this place took my breath away, the sheer scale of it, and its fantastic architecture...

We decided to take a return journey, and get some better pictures with our better camera's, this turned out to be quite an eye-opener. 

Since our 1st visit, the access was reasonably difficult and not very obvious...now however, the whole place is pretty much wide open, and there is graffiti and tagging all over everything, the school opposite is wide open, and completly void of anything interesting apart from spray cans. The way these idiots have left such a wonderful building made me so angry...

here's the pictures, the cathedral itself still shows it grandure through all the tagging, and hopefully something will be done about this fantastic building.

The seminary...?? small offset room seperate to the cathedral room...






the passageway to the main door, and the cathedral hall...






the stunning window, thankfully no more damage...






a sad looking figure...






the cathedral hall...tagged up!






and looking back into the passageway...






utterly shocking that it has been let to get like this...

turk


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## wastedindustry (May 25, 2007)

*Cathedral of the Apostles REPORT 24/05/07*

The Cathedral of the Apostles in Clifton has been derelict for several years now. It was originally completed in 1848, with the intention of making it Bristol's official Cathedral - however it was never execrated, and became known as a Pro-Cathedral before it was eventually abandoned in the 1960s when a new Cathedral was built.

Nowadays it's in a bit of a state really, as many of you know - but when my lady and I went to have a nose around last night we rolled up in the car to be greeted by lights in the windows and noise coming from inside.

We were instantly a little concerned about this, because the last we'd heard the church was to be demolished to make way for the ubiquitous apartments which are now infesting Bristol - but some further investigation (i.e. peering through the windows like a couple of schoolchildren) revealed the presence of several graffiti artists apparently setting up some sort of installation.
So we wandered round the side to be greeted by a very friendly chappy who let us in to document what they're doing - I thought you guys would be interested in this, since it's a hell of a lot more interesting than flats!

Apparently the church has now been purchased by investors who intend to turn the place into a community centre, and are currently putting a lot of money into getting the place fully restored and active. The first step in this is to raise awareness of the place, hence the art installation. They've been there three weeks now, and already the smashed windows on the front have been replaced, security's been beefed up (massive padlocks), and the interior is looking a lot less beaten up.

On to the pictures... each one goes to a larger (and better) version.

Rules...




New beamwork inside, replacing a distinctly dodgy ceiling:




Fusebox still isn't fixed - they're using generators at the moment:




Workshop:




Front hall, newly revamped:




Workers preparing art:




Further back into the main church, where work is yet to start...

Unearthed crypt. All the bodies have been removed from here and the area "deconsecrated".




Gravestones still in place:




Machinery left over from the last people to work here (photography students apparently):




Generic (but well meant) graff:




Main hall (grainy picture):




Statuework rather damaged (has been for some time apparently):




Old organ position (no jokes please):




Stained glass still intact:




Not sure what this was doing here:




On the way out, freshly painted, with our guide on the left and my lady on the right:





We've been invited back at the weekend to try and get some better pictures, and apparently the guy who showed us around might also be able to get us into the derelict school opposite, which to my knowledge hasn't been done yet. Hopefully some interesting stuff in there too.


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## krela (May 25, 2007)

*Re: Cathedral of the Apostles REPORT 24/05/07*



wastedindustry;13367; said:


> We've been invited back at the weekend to try and get some better pictures, and apparently the guy who showed us around might also be able to get us into the derelict school opposite, which to my knowledge hasn't been done yet. Hopefully some interesting stuff in there too.



Err it has, Me and quite a number of people have been in there multiple times...

pics here

If there's already a location report for a place please add your info to the end rather than creating a new thread  I've combined the two threads now.


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## krela (May 25, 2007)

Good to hear the building is going to be used for something useful rather than being turned into empty flats though. The previous owner was just waiting for someone to torch the church so they could build something else on it.


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## wastedindustry (May 25, 2007)

Apologies for not updating the existing thread 

Like I said about the school - 'to my knowledge'! My knowledge has now been updated


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## krela (May 25, 2007)

As a bit of background to the place the school next door was a Waldorf Steiner school who believe in the right for children to express themselves so they work on a pretty free reign basis giving the children space and love instead of structured lessons etc. The stuff they do is very much based on art and creativity.

The school also used most of the Cathedral (apart from the main part) for a number of years which is why there's pottery, woodwork and printing rooms in the basement, it's also why there's hippy style murals on some of the walls!

Very odd place.


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## Foxylady (May 25, 2007)

Really enjoyed your report and pics, Wasted.
Thanks for that and for the background history. It's good to see something being done for the community with the building, as it's rather a special place, imo. Getting a guided tour is a bit of a bonus too. 

Cheers
Foxy


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## wastedindustry (May 25, 2007)

Thanks, Foxy!
It is a nice change for developers to actually do something good for the community. Another place where they've done something similar is New Trinity in St Pauls - recently finished I believe.


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## krela (May 25, 2007)

wastedindustry;13375; said:


> Thanks, Foxy!
> It is a nice change for developers to actually do something good for the community. Another place where they've done something similar is New Trinity in St Pauls - recently finished I believe.



Trinity has been a community centre for the past 20 years or so, they've just re-renovated it over the past couple of months.

It's a shame what they've done recently is shite from a gig/clubbing point of view but never mind, I'm sure they had their reasons.


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## wastedindustry (May 25, 2007)

Thanks for clearing that up  Must have been the renovations I saw.

As for crap gigs - hell of a lot better than crap flats


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## krela (May 25, 2007)

wastedindustry;13377; said:


> Thanks for clearing that up  Must have been the renovations I saw.
> 
> As for crap gigs - hell of a lot better than crap flats



Can't argue with that lol 

Last time I went they had installed these tiny CCTV cameras all over the place and they had a bouncer watching them for people taking drugs or rolling a spliff and kicking them out.

Not very useful considering it's one of the main reggae/dub gig venues in Bristol!


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## smileysal (May 26, 2007)

Thanks for the update. I'm so glad they aren't demolishing it and its going to be used for the community instead of even more upmarket (yuppy) apartments. Will look forward to the next set of pics from the tour 

Cheers

 Sal


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## King Al (May 29, 2007)

On another note… this is the first time I’ve seen this thread, and I would just like to say “bloody nice architecture I bet that was an icon of a church in its day….. Bloody vandals”


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## krela (Jun 8, 2007)

wastedindustry;13375; said:


> Thanks, Foxy!
> It is a nice change for developers to actually do something good for the community. Another place where they've done something similar is New Trinity in St Pauls - recently finished I believe.



Aah, this isn't what it seems unfortunately.

The people 'renovating' the place are actually squatters (although they're ethical squatters who restore places not trash them. Check out www.artspacelifespace.com for info on them.

What it means is that when they get evicted the place will continue to be trashed / destroyed / renovated as was the original plan tho.


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## staffordshireranger (Jun 9, 2007)

Without a doubt that is a nice building ! 
And they do make great conversions. ill have the room with the round window !!
erm please ?


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