Temple Church, Remains

The remains of a church, largely dating to around 1400, with the upper stage of the tower built in 1460, stand on Victoria Street, Bristol. The church, formerly known as Temple Church, Church of the Holy Cross, and Holy Cross Church, was severely damaged by bombing in the Second World War and is now preserved as a shell without a roof or windows.

The church is constructed of Bath stone ashlar and Pennant rubble with ashlar dressings, and originally comprised a aisled, unclerestored nave, a chancel with chapels, and a southwest tower. It is built in the Perpendicular Gothic style, with elements of Somerset tower design.

The east window is a two-centred arch of five lights with trefoil heads, flanked by short clasping buttresses. A low three-bay vestry is attached to the northeast, with three-light mullion windows and a parapet, and a north door with a mullioned overlight. The three-bay chancel has three-light windows with trefoil heads and label moulds, with buttresses at each end. The five-bay nave features five-light windows and a crenellated parapet; a doorway with chamfered reveals is located in the second bay from the west, with the arch breaking the line of the sill above. A similar design is found on the south aisle.

The north aisle has an octagonal stair turret between the aisle and nave, and a mid-Georgian porch to the nave, featuring Corinthian pilasters leading to a segmental pediment with a cartouche and urn. The porch contains a round-arched doorway with an acanthus key. The five-stage tower is situated at the end of the south aisle and displays deep drips. It includes an internal stair turret in the southeast corner, a low plinth, and three western niches with crocketed pinnacled hoods, beneath a four-light window. Blind windows are present on the second and third stages; niches with foliate bases flank the third stage north window, with triangular buttresses ending in attached pinnacles. A band of triangular traceried panels sits at the base of the belfry, above which are paired lights with mullions and transoms and ornate fretwork, separated by slender buttresses with blind panels. A drip with gargoyles and a blocking course tops the structure, while a slight expression of the octagonal stair turret is visible in the belfry with blind panelling.

Internally, column bases are visible in the five-bay nave, with round responds at each end. The base of the tower has a vaulted roof, accessed through an arch with soffit quatrefoil-headed panels. A finely carved memorial on the north wall of the tower is shaped as an aedicule, topped with a skull.

The lower stages of the tower leaned westward shortly after construction, and the belfry was slightly adjusted to counteract this. The pinnacles were never completed.