Church Heritage Record 605054

West tower with spire, the lower part forming the only surviving city gate; six bays aisleless nave; two bay chancel with vestry beyond, all under one roof; crypt beneath nave and chancel.

There had been a church on this site since the late twelfth century, but the present building dates from 1350-1500, owing much to the Frampton family, particularly to William Frampton, Mayor of Bristol in 1357, 1366 and 1374. The oldest part of the building now standing is the eastern part of the crypt which appears to date from the earlier part of the fourteenth century. The chancel above it is later, about 1480. The wall behind the communion table was probably built in 1570 to create a vestry, and there were alterations to the ground floor of the tower in 1828 in order to make passage more easy for those on foot. At this time the west end was re-arranged internally and the gallery front was moved back one bay.

Of rubble, with dressed limestone for the parapets, tower and spire. 

The tower of the church is in three stages. The lower has a antall moulded arch which forms the city gate. This is flanked by two smaller arches built in 1828 for pedestrians, both under square dripstones with carved stops. The spandrels are filled with quatrefoils and the south-east arch is linked by its dripstone to the present entry to the church. The spire is especially elegant, emphasized by the roll-mouldings which run up the angles between the faces. About halfway up there is a small moulding like a crown encircling the spire and at the top a finial from which rises a weathervane with a cock at the summit.

There is little else to be said about the outside of the nave and chancel, fine though they are, and distinguished for the row of six large windows in the nave walls and then the two smaller windows in the lateral walls of the chancel. The most notable feature about the nave of the church is the small section of walling containing a clerestory window which breaks the line of the embattled parapet. This is best explained inside the building. It is roofed in lead, whereas the nave and chancel are slated. 

The long nave consists of six tall bays. Five are of similar design with large windows set in arches which gives a feeling of a space wider than it is, almost as though the side walls were arcades opening into aisles separated by thin attached columns with carved capitals painted red. These may have been intended to serve as supports for a vaulted roof, a plan which was not carried out because of the difficulty of buttressing such a structure sufficiently owing to the exigencies of the site. The sixth bay from the west, that before the chancel arch, has the higher projection noticed outside the church. This is roofed crosswise almost like a small transept, the roof being carried on moulded wall ties which run up at each corner from corbels carved as angels and painted. 

The other five bays are roofed with an open timber roof which takes its character from gently curving moulded cross beans each of which corresponds to one of the attached pilasters. The west bay which contains the gallery and organ narrows slightly to abut the tower. The nave is furnished with oak pews and the font stands close to the door under the gallery, on the south side of the alley. This is paved with encaustic tiles of nineteenth-century design.

The chancel arch is tall and wide, made particularly elegant by its satisfying proportions and continuous moulding from floor to apex without intervening capitals. Above hangs a hatchment and each side the Royal supporters stand on brackets.

The chancel is of two and a half bays, the two windows on each side set within arched recesses as in the nave. The windows have three lights and less panel tracory above than the nave windows. The sills are decorated with a castellated moulding. The panelled dado which encircles the nave continues along the north wall until interrupted in the eastern bay by the polychrome tomb chest and recumbent effigy of the benefactor of the church, Walter Frampton. The tiled floor becomes more colourful towards the east, chiefly by the introduction of blue. The steps are of white marble.

The vestry has on the south side a three-light window as in the chancel and on the north side is lit by the oriel already noted.