St Marys Parish Church Redcliffe

The grandeur of the Parish Church of St Mary Redcliffe has been admired through the ages.

On a visit to Bristol in 1574 Queen Elizabeth I is reputed to have declared it to be the "fairest, goodliest and most famous parish church in England."

The scale and beauty of the building gives the impression that it was intended to be a cathedral yet its purpose, like all Parish churches, has always been to serve as a gathering place for the Christian Community to worship God.

A visitor today has to be impressed by the splendour of the building, some parts of which date back to the beginning of the 12th Century.

However, it is the work of the fifteenth century masons that gives the church the 'wow' factor.

The building's strong vertical lines direct the eye upwards giving the impression of great space and height, with light and colour filtering through Victorian stained glass windows created by some of the finest studios of that period.

The ceiling is a vast stone vault, made up of intricate patterns of stone ribs and bosses (over 1000), beautifully carved by mediaeval masons , do not merely decorate but they were also created to act as vital keystones being shaped to lock together the incredibly heavy masonry that forms the vaulting.

From Saxon times the wealth of Bristol developed from its importance as a safe trading port for seafarers and the income thus gained provided a major contribution towards the cost of building St Mary Redcliffe. When King Henry I gave the church to the Canons of Salisbury Cathedral in 1115 there was a substantial building already on the site, of which only the inner porch and base of the tower remain.

Much of the church seen today dates from the 15th century. The building is filled with Merchant Marks (Mediaeval corporate logos) by which the benefactors can be identified. The Mark of one family, the Canynges, can be seen around the church, carved in stone and on stained glass, suggesting that they were responsible for the rebuilding of the church. Probably closer to the truth, the construction was a combined effort from a number of merchants.

The church of St. Mary used to have a fine weather cock mearuring 6 feet from beak to tail and made of gilded wood. It was transferred to the church of St. Peter in Winchcombe in 1872.

American Connections

John Cabot

In 1497 John Cabot set sail in his ship, the Matthew, from Bristol on a journey of discovery in which he reached the mainland of America.

King Henry V1 ordered the then Sherriff of Bristol, Richard Ameryck, to find funds for Cabot's journey. On his return, Cabot gave thanks for the voyage by presenting a whalebone to St Mary Redcliffe.

Five hundred years later the crew of the second Matthew, a replica of the first, gathered in the north porch to pray for a safe voyage before embarking on the same route across the Atlantic as John Cabot.

Earlier, at a service of dedication and blessing, they had presented the Church with a model of the ship which now rests above the north porch door. Like Cabot, they also returned with a gift of a whalebone for the church, a symbol of the wealth of the fishing grounds discovered around Newfoundland.

A monument of Sir William Penn can be found in St. Mary's church.

Admiral Sir William Penn, 'the famous father of an even more famous son', wrote the code of naval tactics, which formed the basis of the Duke of York's Sailing and Fighting Instructions, the standard book on tactics for the Royal Navy for much of the next two centuries. Samuel Pepys, the diarist, was his subordinate as Secretary to the Navy Board. Together, they reformed the structure and administration of the navy, laying the foundations for Britain's later dominance of the seas and, arguably, of the British Empire itself.

William Penn's elder son, William, was born in London in 1644. He became a leading and most troublesome Quaker. In 1681 Charles II granted him a province in America as redemption of the debts owed by the King to his late father. William had chosen the name "Sylvania" but the King insisted that it be prefaced by "Penn" in honour of the Admiral. Penn was both the founder and first governor of Pennsylvania.

His commitment to religious freedom and his enlightened concepts of democratic government ensured that the state of Pennsylvania later took a leading role in the country's independence and in the creation of the Constitution of the United States of America.

St Marys Parish Church Redcliffe