Follow in Queen Elizabeth's footsteps at St John on the Wall Bristol

St John's is part of the very fabric of Bristol - it was built into the city walls in the fourteenth century as a place for travellers to offer prayers before a journey. In the twelfth century there were five churches built into Bristol's city walls, acting both as part of the city's defences, and as places for travellers to offer prayers before a journey. St John's is the only one that remains.
As you walk down the slope of Broad Street, the view of the Gothic city gate with the elegant perpendicular spire of St John's rising above, is stunning. The building of St John's coincided with a period of great prosperity for Bristol. Walter Frampton (died 1388), who was mayor of the city three times, founded the church, and his splendid monument stands in the chancel.
Other monuments in the chancel, and in the early fourteenth century vaulted crypt beneath, testify to the wealth and business activity of the city in medieval times and later. See, for example, the alabaster tomb in the crypt of a merchant and his wife, with their ten children represented in panels below.

The interior of the church is impressively tall and graceful, with fine fittings dating mostly from the seventeenth century. On the north side of the church built into the city wall is a fountain, a branch of a conduit installed to bring water to the Carmelite Friary 700 years ago. It is said that at election times in in the past it was sometimes made to run with wine.

Timings & Tours

Saturday 14 September:

11.00-17.00

Location & directions

Church Of St. John The Baptist, Broad Street, Bristol, Bristol, BS1 2EZ

Directions:

Church is situated on the junction of Broad Street and Quay Street. Entrance to upper church is on the Broad Street side and entrance to crypt on Quay Street/Nelson Street via a small door. Metered car parking on Broad Street and multiple city centre car parks nearby. Due to the churches location it can not remain unlocked outside of volunteer opening times. The Grand Hotel is located nearby and the Guildhall is the closest landmark. Steps to the church are worn and steep. The crypt entrance is narrower and lower than a modern door.

Contact on day:

Rachel Whitty CCT LCO

Telephone number:

+447872502118

Booking information

Pre-booking requirement:

Pre-booking not required

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