A CONSULTATION on the long run of All Saints’, Corn Street, in Bristol — believed to be the burial place of the Seventeenth-century slave trader Edward Colston — “has identified several potential future uses” for the historic constructing.
The Grade II listed Norman church has been closed to the general public since 1984, but, until 2015, was utilized by the diocese of Bristol as an education and resource centre. The consultation was commissioned by the diocese in 2024.
The first stage, which engaged with members of Bristol’s African Caribbean heritage communities and other stakeholders, has been accomplished, a diocesan statement confirmed last week. No details were revealed, but “These proposals will likely be explored and developed further within the second phase of the consultation,” it said.
This process involved interviews, focus groups, artistic responses, visits to the constructing, and surveys to “gather opinions” on the very best use of the constructing, the diocese said.
The church houses a memorial to Colston, who contributed financially to the development of the tower in 1716. Colston was an English merchant, slave trader, and MP. As well as All Saints’, he also endowed schools, almshouses, hospitals, and other churches across Bristol, including the cathedral, St Mary Redcliffe, and Temple School. He was a member of the Society of Merchant Venturers, which contributed large sums to the reconstruction of the nave of Bristol Cathedral within the 1800s. He died in 1721.
In 2020, a statue of Colston was pulled down and thrown into the harbour by anti-racism protesters within the wake of the death of George Floyd within the United States (News, 12 June 2020). The moment triggered a nationwide review of church monuments to figures connected with the transatlantic slave trade.
The Acting Bishop of Bristol, the Bishop of Swindon, the Rt Revd Neil Warwick, said last week that the completion of the primary stage of the consultation “marks a very important step in listening, learning, and discerning essentially the most appropriate way forward for the constructing”. He thanked the previous Bishop of Bristol the Rt Revd Viv Faull for starting this “vital” work, to which he and the diocese remained dedicated, he said.
To protect public safety, and due to church’s location, the diocese is legally obliged to repair the roof: works which can be resulting from begin within the early spring, and last for about six months. These, the diocese said, were “completely separate from the consultation, and won’t influence the ultimate decisions in regards to the constructing’s future”.
