The church of St John the Baptist is
the only survivor of four churches
that formed part of the city walls in
the medieval period. The others are
St Nicholas\u2019s and St Leonard\u2019s,
which stood over the west and south
gates and St Lawrence\u2019s. St
Lawrence\u2019s once shared the same
tower with St John\u2019s on the other
side of the North Gate. There is no
firm date for the demolition of St
Lawrence\u2019s Church. It was
deconsecrated in c1580, but some of
its remains of seem not to have been
finally cleared away until as late as
1823.
Walter Frampton founded the pres-
ent church of St John\u2019s. It dates
from around 1350 to 1500, with
some major changes in the 19th
century. Walter Frampton was
Mayor of Bristol in 1357, in 1366
and again in 1374. He died in 1388
and his memorial is on the north
wall of the chancel.
There was an earlier church on the
site founded by William of
Gloucester who gave it to the Priory
of St James, which is first mentioned
in a deed of 1174.
St John\u2019s has seen many notable
national and local events over the
last 900 years, being an important
place of worship for the people of
Bristol. The church has also been
known as St John-on-the-Wall, St
John Evangelist and St John\u2019s Gate.
Today it is dwarfed by 20th-century
buildings, including St Lawrence
House named after the church
which it replaced.
The best approach to the church is
along Broad Street, which provides
a good view of St John\u2019s
Perpendicular tower and spire, over

John\u2019s Gate. Gateways were
favoured locations for building
medieval churches as they offered
opportunities to travellers for
prayers before a journey or after a
safe return. The two smaller arches
were built in 1828 for pedestrians to
ease congestion; one replacing an
even earlier single pedestrian arch
built c.1580.
In the Churchwarden\u2019s Accounts
for 1535 we find the entry\u2018Item for

whether he actually visited the
church. In the same Accounts is a
record for\u2018Candles for the Lanthern

the gateway, the underneath of
which used to be the west door to
the church, was lit by candlelight.
Queen Elizabeth I came to Bristol
in August 1574, and the procession
passed through the city and halted
at St John\u2019s Gate where speeches
were delivered.
What is not so obvious from the
outside is that there is a\u2018lower
church\u2019, which is sometimes called
the crypt. The entrance is now on

Nelson Street on the right through
the arch from Broad Street, but
access was originally from inside the
church.You can see the windows of
the lower church at pavement level
on the north side of the church.
During the Civil War Bristol was
divided into Royalist and
Parliamentarian factions, as were
many other areas of Britain. There
were two major sieges in Bristol, and
St John\u2019s Gate was used as a defen-
sive point, although the gate was no
longer on the edge of the city since
the city walls had been extended
northwards by this time. Alderman
John Tailor, who was churchwarden
of St John\u2019s in 1634, went on to
become Mayor of Bristol in 1640.
He was an ardent Royalist supporter
during the Civil War. It is recorded
that on 3 August 1642, King
Charles, Prince Charles, the Duke
of York and Prince Rupert, after an
inspection of the forts around
Bristol made their way via St John\u2019s
Gate to John Tailor\u2019s residence,
where they all dined together. In the
1645 siege of the city by the

In the Chronicles, St John\u2019s Gate is
next referred to on the accession to
the throne of Queen Anne on 12th
March 1702. There was much cele-
bration in Bristol for the new queen,
and gates and church porches were
adorned with flowers and gilded
branches of laurel, particularly
noted were St Stephen\u2019s Porch and
St John\u2019s Gate.

The best approach is along Broad
Street because, from this direction,
pupils will get a good view of the
south side of the church and its
imposing tower. Note how the road
slopes down towards the church,
this will help them understand how

Deeds record the transference of a garden from the Borough of Bristol to
the Parson, which was then used as St John\u2019s Cemetery. It can still be
viewed through the gates. Entry is off Broad Street from Tailor\u2019s Court

The protestant boy King Edward VI opposes all forms of religious
ornamentation. This led to the removal of many church treasures and the
whitewashing of church wall paintings

Under the rule of the Catholic Queen Mary five protestant laymen are
burnt at the stake on the site of Highbury chapel, now the parish church of
Cotham in Bristol

Present entrance lobby and door replaced the first, which was underneath the archway, and the water conduit was moved from where the entrance now is to Nelson Street

the lower church (sometimes called
the crypt) was built into the slope.
Before going in have a good look
around outside. The church has four
street signs on or next to it, Bell
Lane, Tower Lane, Nelson Street
(once called Halliers Lane), and
Quay Street. If you include Broad
Street and Christmas Street, which
terminate at St John\u2019s, it is at the axis
of six roads. Explain to pupils whilst
walking down Broad Street that they
would have been inside the earliest
town walls here, once they go
through the church gateway they
would be outside the earliest
defended part of the town. Through
the gateway was the town, the River
Frome and St Augustine\u2019s Abbey,
behind them inside the walls would
be Bristol Castle, and Broad Street
which was one of the four main
medieval streets of the old town.
Bristol became a city in 1542.

The tower has a painted statue on
either side of the gateway of
Brennus and Belinus. These are the
legendary founders of Bristol. The
story is about two mythical Trojan
princes who fled to Bristol after the
Greeks took Troy with their wooden
horse. The figures are probably
post-medieval and the niches may
have held statues of saints before the
Reformation.

Look at the large dressed blocks of
limestone that make up the tower
and compare them to the smaller
different sized stones that make up
the church and pedestrian gateways.
The gateway and tower could at
some time have been rendered.
There are six bells in the tower dat-
ing from 1649 to 1785.
At the very top of the tower is a
weather vane. It is a cock, which
represents the words Jesus said to
Paul, that by the time the cock
crowed twice he would have
betrayed him three times.
The channel for a portcullis can still
be seen in the main arch, as can the
arch of the original entry to the
church, which is inside the gateway.

Walk along Tower Lane looking at
the south wall and, before you come
to the first door, you can see the
joint where the extension to the east
end of the church was built. There
are two doors (both locked) one
which leads into the chancel the
other into the vestry.

On the right side of Broad Street
walking towards St John\u2019s is Tailor\u2019s
Court. This is a remarkable survival
from Bristol\u2019s medieval past. It is
worth a short visit with your pupils
before or after you have investigated
the church. It answers the question
of where the congregation was
buried, as the gates to St John\u2019s
cemetery are at the far end of
Tailor\u2019s Court. It became St John\u2019s
cemetery in 1390. Until then people
of the parish of St John\u2019s paid to be
buried in St James\u2019 Priory. When
they got their own burial place the
priory was not pleased to have lost
this source of income. Neither was
the Tailor\u2019s Guild, as their hall then
overlooked the cemetery. Although
the patron saint of tailors was John
the Baptist, the Tailor\u2019s Guild did
not use St John\u2019s Church; they had
their own chapel in St Ewen\u2019s
Church. On leaving the courtyard
there is a medieval timber framed
house, to the left you can just make
out two small statues.

The conduit system was built in
1267 bringing water from a spring
in Broad Hill about a mile way from
the church. The conduit was the
width of a\u2018kis\u2019. The kis literally
meant a hole that was the width of a
feather. The conduit was originally
sited where the entrance to the
church now is, it was moved to the
north side of the church in 1827. A
print of 1825 shows it in its original
location. The course of the water is
shown on an exhibition panel in the
church, and a plaque on the conduit
commemorates that it was the only
source of water during in the city

a gallery over the west end. The
church did not expand over the cen-
turies as many churches did.
Discuss with pupils why this may
have been the case.You could look
at Millerds 1673 map of Bristol (see
page 0), which shows just how
densely packed with buildings this
area was, and how the church
formed part of the city walls. The
walls of the church are now white
but it is worth pointing out that in
the medieval period they would have
had paintings on them. Traces of
paintings can just be made out
above the communion table; they
are the Ten Commandments. There
are two doors on the east wall, but
only one goes into the vestry; the
other was made to maintain the
symmetry.

This print made in 1825 shows that prior
to this date the original location of the
water conduit was on the corner of Broad
St and Tower Lane, where the entrance to
the church is now.