Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BEDMINSTER

BEDMINSTER, a suburban town, a parish, a subdistrict, and a district in Somerset. The town is a southern suburb of Bristol; separated from the city by the river Avon; connected with it by two bridges; included within the borough; and traversed, from within a furlong of the terminus, by the Bristol and Exeter railway. It comprises Redcliffe Crescent, a considerable number of streets, and some outskirts; has a receiving post office‡ of Bristol in North Street; and contains Bristol jail, a dispensary, four churches, five dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, and remains of an hospital. One of the churches is partly an ancient building, in a mixed style of architecture; another is a spacious pointed modern edifice, with a tower, erected about 1835, at a cost of £8,673; another is a large middle-pointed edifice, of nave, aisles, and polygonal apsidal chancel, with tower and spire, erected in 1861, at a cost of £7,636; and one of the dissenting chapels, belonging to the Independents, is a large and handsome edifice, with a Grecian front. The town is a polling-place and a seat of petty sessions. Pop. in 1851, 17,598.—The parish includes also the tythings of Bishport and Knowle. Acres, 4,161. Real property, £58,280; of which £3,102 are in mines. Pop. in 1841, 17,862,-of whom 17,402 were within the borough of Bristol; in 1861, 22,346. Houses, 3,856. Coal is extensively worked. Veins of strontian occur in the vale of the Avon. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value, £450. Patron, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. The p. curacy of St. Luke, and the vicarages of St. Paul and St. Peter are separate benefices; the first in the patronage of Trustees; the second and the third in the patronage of the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. Value of St. Luke, £400; of St. Paul, £300;* of St. Peter, £300.*-The subdistrict is conterminate with the parish.—The district comprehends also the subdistrict of Long-Ashton, containing the parishes of Long-Ashton, Dundry, Winford, Barrow-Gurney, Backwell, Flax-Bourton, and Wraxall; the subdistrict of Yatton, containing the parishes of Yatton, Tickenham, Nailsea, Chelvey, Brockley, Kingston-Seymour, Kenn, and Clevedon; and the subdistrict of St. George, containing the parishes of Walton-in-Gordano, Weston-in-Gordano, Easton-in-Gordano, Clapton, Portishead, Portbury, and Abbots-Leigh. Acres, 57,068. Poor-rates in 1866, £22,487. Pop. in 1861, 41,257. Houses, 7,454. Marriages in 1866, 348; births, 1,794,-of which 61 were illegitimate; deaths, 966,-of which 424 were at ages under 5 years, and 36 at ages above 85 years. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 2,825; births, 13,749; deaths, 7,875. The places of worship in 1851 were 28 of the Church of England, with 10,505 sittings; 14 of Independents, with 2,635 s.; 5 of Baptists, with 600 s.; 2 of Quakers, with 290 s.; 8 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 3,783 s.; 1 of the Wesleyan Association, with 200 s.; 3 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 942 s.; 2 of Bible Christians, with 340 s.; and 2 undefined, with 225 s. The schools were 33 public day schools, with 3,086 scholars; 63 private day schools, with 1,057 s.; and 36 Sunday schools, with 2,589 s. The workhouse is in Long-Ashton.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a suburban town, a parish, a subdistrict, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Bedminster AP/CP       Bedminster SubD       Long Ashton RegD/PLU       Somerset AncC
Place: Bedminster

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.