All Saints church, on Pembroke Road in Clifton, was born from the deep split within the Church of England in Victorian times, and one which to some degree continues to this day.
When it was built in the late 1860s/early 1870s, it was to be part of the “Anglo-Catholic” side of the C of E. At that time, the “Oxford Movement” was gaining ground, with its view that the Church of England was part of a longer Christian tradition, and while it recognised the monarch as head of the church, it was not a “Protestant” church.
As such it went in for a great deal of ritual in the Roman Catholic style which more evangelical Anglicans and Protestant nonconformists regarded as no better than outright Papistry and which they derided as “smells (i.e. incense) and bells”.
To this day, All Saints calls itself an “Anglo-Catholic church”, and was one of the last Anglican parishes in the region – it combined with St John’s, Clifton, in the late 1970s – to accept the ordination of women.
Whatever your view (or lack of it) of the politics or theology, it is one of the most fascinating sacred spaces in Bristol.
Much of the original church, like so many others in Bristol, was destroyed by fire during the Blitz. Little remained, but it was re-built in the 1960s, with the addition of the distinctive spire to the existing tower.
It is now a Grade II listed building, and it’s not hard to see why. The design of the new parts is quite radical, but the real talking point are the windows by the artist John Piper (1903-1992).
Piper actually visited Bristol after the first big night-time air raid in November 1940 as an official War Artist, and as a result produced three of his best-known paintings – all were of ruined Bristol churches; St Mary Le Port, Temple and Holy Nativity.
He had no other significant connections with the city until his commission for the windows at the new All Saints, which were completed in time for the consecration of the new building in 1967.
They’re not actually stained glass, but fibreglass, onto which he poured different coloured resins, so you might say they’re paintings.
They comprise two works. One was inspired by the Book of Revelation and shows the River of Life to one side, and the Tree of Life on the other. The blue windows higher up on either side are a vision of the Creation, with darkness becoming light.
One art historian described them as “a masterpiece on a monumental scale” and work of global importance. They’re certainly not like anything you’ll see in any other church.
All Saints’ other claim on history is that its parish magazine in 1915 that the first account appeared of the Angels of Mons. This was the legend of the spectral figures who supposedly aided the British Expeditionary Force on its gruelling retreat in the face of overwhelming German numbers in the summer of 1914.
If you’ve never taken a look inside, it’s usually open through the day. To check, or to take a virtual tour, see www.allsaintsclifton.org
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