Place:Bristol Christchurch, Gloucestershire, England

Christ Church with St Ewen is a Church of England parish church in Broad Street, Bristol, England. Extant parish registers and bishops transcripts both begin in 1794. Parish registers for Christ Church begin in 1538; separate registers exist for Bristol St Ewen beginning 1538. Bishop's Transcripts for Christ Church begin in 1670; separate records exist for Bristol St Ewen begin in 1673. Bristol St. Ewen has been redirected here.

It was built between 1786 and 1791, designed by William Paty and built by his relatives Thomas Paty and Sons, replacing a medieval one.[1] The entrance and refurbished interior are by Henry Williams in 1883. The building was restored in 1973. On the tower quarter-boy figures strike the quarter hours on the Automaton clock. (Source:FamilySearch Wiki)

Bristol Christchurch was a civil parish in the Bristol Registration District from 1837 until 1896 when it became part of Central Bristol parish.

Research Tips

• Bristol Archives is where paper and microfilm copies of all records for Bristol and its environs are stored.

Online sources which may also be helpful:

• Three maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrate the changes in political boundaries over the period 1830-1945. All have expanding scales and on the second and third this facility is sufficient that individual parishes can be inspected (except in the immediate Bristol area--for Bristol, see English Jurisdictions).

• Gloucestershire Hundreds as drawn in 1832. This map was prepared before The Great Reform Act of that year. Note the polling places and representation of the various parts of the county.
• Gloucestershire in 1900, an Ordnance Survey map showing rural districts, the boundaries of the larger towns, the smaller civil parishes of the time, and some hamlets and villages in each parish
• Gloucestershire in 1943, an Ordnance Survey map showing the rural districts after the changes to their structure in the 1930s

• A Vision of Britain through Time has a group of pages of statistical facts for almost every parish in the county
• GENUKI gives pointers to other archive sources as well as providing some details on each parish. The emphasis here is on ecclesiastical parishes (useful before 1837)
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 and tables of the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. The compiler has gone to a lot of work to provide this material. Respect his copyright.
• The FamilySearch Wiki for Gloucestershire provides a similar but not identical series of webpages to that provided by GENUKI
• English Jurisdictions, a supplementary website to FamilySearch outlining local parish boundaries in the middle on the 19th century. The information provided is especially useful for establishing the locations of ecclesiastical parishes in large towns and cathedral cities, as well as changes in their dedications (names). Very useful for Bristol.
• The Church Crawler has a website of photos and histories of English Churches with emphasis on Bristol.
• Unfortunately, the Victoria County History series provided by the website British History Online only provides information on Gloucestershire Churches in this part of the county. More general information on the Bristol and South Gloucestershire area is sadly omitted.
• Ancestry UK has recently added Gloucestershire Burials, 1813-1988; Confirmations, 1834-1913; Baptisms, 1813-1913; Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1813; and Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938. (entry dated 1 Aug 2015)
• Ancestry has also now updated Bristol, England, Select Church of England Parish Registers, 1720-1933 (entry dated 14 Mar 2016)