In 1886 the chancel was the first part of the church to be built, designed by E.H.Edwards. By 1901 the nave and aisles were added, but with a different architect, J.Bevan (I assume no relation to the cacher Jonnie Bevan! ).
In the early hours of 9th January 1926 the vicar was woken to the church burning. The fire brigade were summoned and spent 4 hours extinguishing the flames. Unfortunately the fire caused a huge amount of damage and the insurance payout of £10000 would not cover the rebuild. Funds were raised and a new design was put forward by the Diocesan architect P Hartland Thomas (who was involved with St Cuthbert’s, Brislington, St. Oswald’s, Bedminster Down and Shirehampton Parish Church, at a similar time). Construction of the new church was by Messrs William Cowlin and Sons. Interestingly the red faced bricks were fired with local Cockpit Heath coal.
In 1961 St Michael's came close to being demolished and the site sold. Proposals were made to amalgamate the parish of St John's (destroyed in the blitz) and St Michael's with St. Mary Redcliffe. Needless to say there were some objections; St John's parishioners wanted their church rebuilt; St. Michael's didn't want theirs destroyed. In the end the parish of St John’s was divided between St Michael’s, St Mary Redcliffe and St Aldhelm’s. And hence St. Michael's church remains standing
The cache is located somewhere within the nearby Victoria Park.
To find out where, you'll need to have a good look at the church and complete some simple maths.
The cache can be found at:
N51° 26.ABC W002° 35.DEF where
A = number of door knockers on the South side × 2
B = notice the large West window: count the number of stone edged window sections; also at west end count the number of windowa in the unusual semi circular wall; divide higher number by lower number
C = number of bells visible in the tower
D = take the number on the lamppost near the flagpole from the first number on the telegraph pole
EF = number of uprights on the "Peace and Potato" garden fence at the east end of the church plus the first number on the telegraph pole
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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Nqzver gur ivrj. Ybj. Haqre.