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History"In May, 1791, Mr Tommas preached the closing sermon in the old place, from Pray without ceasing. The new one (still standing (1933), and in the occupation of Messrs J S Fry & Sons Limited. 1909) was built in 1792, exactly on the former site. He saw it finished, and had the satisfaction of knowing that it was paid for by the people without any extraneous assistance. There is a tradition that, Mr Tommas' generosity to the workmen during the progress of the building was such as to induce them, in grateful commemoration, to have embedded in the wall, behind the pulpit, a bottle of strong beer, that the minister might not be in want of what they considered so essential to the enjoyment of life!" "At a Church meeting held November 13th, 1798. It was mutually agreed that instrumental music in the Church should be suppressed, and Brother Whittuck is desired to speak to Mr Stone and inform him of it. Agreeably to desire this was done, and in consequence Mr Stone left the church. At a Church meeting held Tuesday Evening, February 5th. 1799. Brethren Cottle and Whittuck was commissioned to wait on Brother Stone, requesting him to fill up his place in the Church, Accordingly they did so, and he seemed offended, and at first seemed to hint that he should not return; but after some conversation with him he said he would consider further about it." 1800'sMultiplication and DivisionThe new century opened in division and strife. "The Church in the Pithay had always been accustomed to two ministers, though latterly not to two pastors, and after the removal of Mr Barnett to Bradford, different preachers were engaged as supplies, in the expectations of obtaining a permanent assistant minister. With more than one of these Mr Sharp would have been happy to have been associated, but in no instance did he urge the introduction of anyone who did not appear to be generally acceptable to the people. In fact, he had very little to do with nominating the supplied; that being left to a committee, composed partly of members, and partly of subscribers who were not members - a system equally opposed to scripture, general usage, and common sense. By this unnatural executive body, in May 1804 a Mr Perkins, an unprincipled man, was visited on the recommendation of a friend, - whose acquaintance with him was unhappily, very recent, and equally slight. Before the arrival of this man, Mr Sharp was accidentally present in a family where his name was casually introduced, and the allusion was such as to induce a strong apprehension that he would prove to Mr Sharp an unpleasant associate in the ministry." "This apprehension was soon increased by the spontaneous warning of one of the most respectable ministers in the denomination, who knew him well. On his arrival, his own conduct, in a variety of instances, painfully confirmed these apprehensions, but having been invited to supply the Church they could not well do otherwise than receive his services. But Mr Sharp avowed to his friends that he could not be happy with such a colleague, and expressed his hope that the committee would allow him quietly to withdraw at the termination of the period for which he had been invited. This measure, emanating from the Pastor and supported by many of the members, was not acquiesced in by some few of the Church, and others of the Congregation, who it appeared had become strongly attached to Mr Perkins. Although they could not obtain the slightest testimonial as to character, they were pertinaciously determined not to part with him." On the introduction of the question, not to the anomalous dictatorship - the committee but to the Church, on the 17th July, 1804, a large majority, decided against his settlement among them. He then with 49 adherents, withdrew. They assembled for worship by themselves at Taylors Hall, in Taylors Court, Broad Street employing Mr Perkins as their preacher and pastor on November the 12th, without applying, according to their usual custom of congregational churches, for the consent of the majority to their becoming a distinct society." "Accordingly on January 1st, 1805, a church meeting was held in the Vestry which agreed to postpone the cutting off of those members who had withdrawn themselves (and united in forming themselves, in a separate place, in church ordinance and communion) for 3 months longer. On March 26th, this meeting was held, when the whole of the 49 members were excluded from the Church, having gone off with Mr Perkins and formed themselves into a Church, on November 12th 1804. The end result was the erection of a meeting-house in Counterslip, in the parish of the Temple, which was opened on 22nd March, 1810, by Dr Ryland, pastor of Broadmead. The building was in the Corinthian style, and seated 1250 persons." "On May 26th it is recorded that after the aforesaid withdrawals there were 190 members (a note is added that they were all living)." "On December 16th, 1805, £3-3-0 was paid by the Church for instructions given to Mr Chandler in the rules of grammar." As the century went on, the church spread its influence to new areas of Bristol in a more positive manner. 1807 Separation of daughter congregations at Keynsham and Hanham. (Keynsham and Hanham Baptists continued as one united church, sharing the ministry of the same pastor, until 1850, when by mutual consent, they became separate, and independent causes.) 1809 Sunday School started, following the example of Robert Raikes who founded the first Sunday Schools in Gloucester in 1780. Aim was to provide literacy, and basic schooling, as well as imparting fundamentals of Christian faith. 1815 A church was formed in Pill, consisting of fourteen persons, principally from the Pithay, at Bristol. 1816 Pithay building closed as too small, and moved to Old King Street, which could seat 1100 in the main hall and galleries. 1818 Sunday school hall added at the rear of the property "built chiefly by the exertions of the Teachers." 1834 Counterslip congregation suffered a further split, and secessionist group began to meet in the old Pithay building. 1846 Opening of Buckingham Baptist - one of the Deacons from Old King Street left to support the new congregation. 1869 38 members of Old King Street Baptist left with the congregation's blessing to form Tyndale Baptist. 1871 Leading role played in the formation of the Cotham Grove church. But the church had influence outside of its own immediate sphere. The Rev Thomas Roberts who was responsible for the construction of the Old King Street building, had a significant voice in the campaign against slavery. 1900'sThe move to the suburbsMost of the Sunday School work was conducted amongst the poor families who lived in dense housing in the inner city, around the Old King Street church. But the main congregation of the church had increasingly moved to the more salubrious suburbs, reflected in the daughter congregations spawned in the previous 50 years. Soon the Sunday School itself saw significant drop off in numbers, as whole swaythes of inner city children moved to new estates opening up in Knowle West. The bombing of the 2nd World War, which flattened most of the city centre around the Old King Street site led the City Council in 1945 to begin to consider wholesale redevelopment of the area around the Old King Street building. Initially the church was assured of its safety from the bulldozer, but after 10 years of uncertainty the church was finally given orders to close its doors by 31st December 1955, to make way for the new Broadmead shopping centre. And so the church building followed its congregation to the suburbs as the new site was purchased in Cairns Road. Building work commenced in August 1955 at the new site, and proceeded in two stages, first the church halls, followed by the main "sanctuary". The first service in the completed halls was held on 3rd June 1956, and the official opening of the main building occurred on Saturday 27th April 1957. The total cost to the 450 strong congregation was £75,000, funded from the sale of the city centre site. The minister, Rev. Arthur Sleeman asked his congregation to "make Old King Street the friendliest church for a long way around". The Old King Street name continued to be used for most of the next 50 years, but by the 1990's the church's headed paper bore the words "Cains Road Baptist Church - formerly known as Old King Street Baptist", and by the new millennium, as most of those for whom "Old King Street" carried any meaning had gone to heaven, reference to OKS was dropped, tho it remains engraved on the foundation stone laid 28th January 1956. To return to the home page clic on the blue Cairns Road |
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