Blackhorse Road, Kingswood: Wesleyan Methodist Chapel & Burial Ground

From May 2003 to May 2019 I served as one of three local councillors (elected representatives) for the ward of Woodstock on South Gloucestershire Council. The former Wesleyan Methodist Chapel and Burial Ground between Blackhorse Road and Waters Road, Kingswood were (mostly) within the ward I represented. Due to the bizarre way in which boundaries are put on maps over the years and the way in which land is divided up, a small portion of the Burial Ground does, in fact, lie within the boundaries of Bristol City Council. At the local council elections in May 2019 (when I stood down) the ward boundaries for South Gloucestershire Council were re-drawn and the wards re-named. The site of the Chapel and most of the Burial Ground are now (from May 2019 until any future boundary review) within the ward called 'Kingswood'.

In 2005, myself and my two fellow councillors for the Woodstock ward began a campaign to encourage South Gloucestershire Council to use the various powers at its disposal to tackle the state of the burial ground. In the intervening years since its closure to new burials (ca. 1979) and changes in ownership, the burial ground had fallen into disrepair. The boundary wall along Blackhorse Road and Waters Road had fallen down in a number of places, the cemetery itself was totally overgrown with brambles and other vegetation and the site was being used for fly-tipping.

I am sorry to say that our campaign didn't really achieve it's goals, although a number of small steps forward were made. However, over the 14 or so years that we tried to get something to happen, we did amass a fair bit of information about the site. As a keen family historian myself I am well aware that this may be of interest to the families of those who are interred in the Burial Ground or who were associated with the Chapel. The purpose of this webpage and the various links from it are to enable me to share information that we gathered during our campaign. I do wish to make clear, however, that apart from look-ups in a copy of a Monumental Inscription that I have, I am unable to assist in any researches with the Chapel or Burial Ground.

This website will exist only for as long as I can continue to afford to pay for the hosting, so if there is material here you are interested in, rather than just 'bookmarking' the pages, I do suggest you print-off (or create PDFs of) anything you are interested in and/or download photos, documents etc. because I cannot promise it will be here indefinitely.

Andy Perkins, Hanham, Bristol. February 2021. Updated July 2021.

Records and Documents

Having a strong interest in my own family history, I was aware from the start of the value of any documents that I unearthed. What I have listed below are links to materials I discovered or information as to the whereabouts of documents and records that family historians in particular would be interested in but also those with a more general interest in the site.

Any burial-related records ?

Where are the Burial Registers ? Great question ! I found out from the local Wesleyan Methodist Chapel on Two Mile Hill that when the Chapel on Blackhorse Road was sold, 7 volumes of the burial ground registers were passed to Lyons Davidson and Rounsfell solicitors on 17th November 1982. I did attempt to contact these solicitors to see if they knew the whereabouts of the registers but I never got a reply. I do not know holds the registers.
Burial Plans 1. Amongst the paperwork in South Gloucestershire Council's archives for a 1985 planning application (see below) is a photocopy of part of a burial plan of the Burial Ground. The quality of this plan is not great. As it is only available on microfiche I did obtain a copy and have made it available here. This plan only shows plot numbers but does give an indication of the number of plots within the burial ground. Of particular interest to see are the burial plots now located beneath the southern-most parts of Blackhorse Court, the car parking area adjacent to the former Sunday School (now Sunday House) and the car parking area created when the Chapel was redeveloped recently.
Burial Plans 2. Amongst the paperwork submitted to South Gloucestershire Council for a planning application in 2015 (see below) are three documents relating to a survey of the small part of the burial ground between the chapel and Blackhorse Road. The documents are a plan of known gravestones; a list of gravestone details (names, dates etc) and whether the developer intended to relocate (preserve) the memorial stones or not; and some photographs. You can find links to these three documents below under Planning Applications.
Monumental Inscription. Shortly after we began our campaign in 2005, we met a resident who many years previously had found a copy of what I believe is a Monumental Inscription (MI) of memorial stones within the burial ground. The MI was found in the archives of John Wesley's Chapel in Broadmead in the centre of Bristol. From the dates within the MI, it appeared to have been made in the early 1980s. I have a copy of this MI, so if you would like me to see if there are (or were) any memorials for your relatives please send me an email and I will have a look through the document. The copy I have is quite faded, particularly the first few pages for surnames beginning with A. I do not know the origin of the MI so I won't be uploading it online in case there are copyright issues.
War Memorial. One of the awful aspects of the Burial Ground being in the state that it is, is that nobody can access the War Memorial. The Monumental Inscription I mentioned above does carry the a list of those remembered from World War 1. Because it relates to war dead, I have scanned this part of the MI and uploaded it here. At some point I also obtained a list of the commemorated war dead from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Are there any other records of interest to family historians (BMD registers etc) ? Bristol Archives' list of holdings show that they hold various Methodist registers. I believe (but will stand corrected) that they hold a Baptism Register covering 1853 to 1910 for the Blackhorse Road chapel (it is listed as Kingswood, Kingswood Hill). There are other records for Kingswood as well. Providing the archives does not move their website files around, this link will take you to a copy of their holdings. If you have a paid-for subscription to Ancestry (or can access it via your local library) they have Non-Conformist records for Bristol online. The one I mentioned for "Kingswood Hill" is accessed via choosing 'Methodist' from the 'Denomination' drop-down box and then 'Kingswood, Kingswood Hill' from the 'Parish and Chapel' drop-down box.
Planning Applications. There have been many. Those for which I have relevant information are;

1985 - Conversion of the Sunday School into a Snooker Club. The papers from this planning application (reference K554/11) made to Kingswood Borough Council are now only on microfiche in the archives of South Gloucestershire Council. Very basic details of the planning application are here online. If this link is broken use the above planning reference to search whatever planning portal the Council has.
2005 - Conversion of the Snooker Club (ex Sunday School) into flats. A planning application (reference PK05/0612/F) made to South Gloucestershire Council. The link on South Gloucestershire Council's website to the planning application and its documents is here.. There was an associated Listed Buildings application (reference PK05/0625/LB). There were a few general photographs of the site submitted as part of the Listed Buildings application. If the link to the Council's website is broken use the above planning references to search whatever planning portal the Council has.
2007 - Redevelopment of the Chapel into 14 flats. A planning application (reference PK07/2951/F) made to South Gloucestershire Council to redevelop the Chapel into flats. There was an associated Listed Buildings application (reference PK07/3382/LB). The link on South Gloucestershire Council's website to the planning application and its documents is here.. Other than the standard drawings and paperwork associated with planning applications, there doesn't appear to have been anything of any particular historial interest. If the link I've given is broken use the above planning reference to search whatever planning portal the Council has. Prior to submission of this application the developers held an open evening at Kingswood Methodist Church on 3rd July 2007 for members of the public to inspect and comment upon plans. The planning application was ultimately withdrawn.
2015 - Redevelopment of the Chapel into 15 flats. Here is a list of some of the documents associated with that planning application. A plan of known gravestones in the area between the Chapel and Blackhorse Road; A document detailing the gravestones identified in the previous plan; Photographs of gravestones and the burial ground (before any clearance); An architectural drawing (plan) of how the proposed redevelopment; Architectural drawings of how the Chapel was proposed to be redeveloped; Developers' report on how they had engaged with the public; Two reports issued to the council's planning committee ahead of a site visit in June 2016 (the second relates to Listed Buildings matters); Two reports issued to the council's planning committee for their decision-making meeting at the end of June 2016. A link to all of the documents for the planning application that was made to South Gloucestershire Council including documents relating to decisons is here. If this link fails, use the reference number PK15/4995/F to search whatever planning portal the Council has.

Ownership stuff. I have collated various bits of paperwork related to the ownership of the site;

2003 - Ownership.
- A Land Registry Map for packet AV157439 map showing the boundary of land packet AV157439 as at 14 Feb 2003 - the majority of the burial ground (that between Waters Road and Blackhorse Road and the small section on Blackhorse Road next to the vets.
- Land Registry documents for packet AV157439 as at 14th Feb 2003.
- If you search the Land Registry's website, and providing the AV numbers haven't changed (e.g. through further sub-division of the land), you should be able to find out current ownership details (for a fee).
2005 - Ownership.
- A map showing how the whole site was divided up (in terms of ownership) at the time. The "Title AV...." numbers refer to packets of land as identified in Land Registry documents of the time.
- Land Registry documents for packet AV96024 as at 29th Jan 2005.
- Land Registry documents for packet AV99299 as at 31st Jan 2005.
- If you search the Land Registry's website, and providing the AV numbers haven't changed (e.g. through further sub-division of the land), you should be able to find out current ownership details (for a fee).
2014 - Sale Guide for the Chapel etc. The Sale Guide issued by the estate agents acting for the seller of the Chapel when it was sold in November 2014. The sale also included the access lane from Two Mile Hill and sections of Burial Ground a) between the Chapel and Blackhorse Road and b) square plot to the immediate south of the Chapel.

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