St Mary le Port Church, Bristol

St Mary le Port Church
Location within Bristol
General information
Town or city	Bristol
Country	England
Coordinates	51°27′17″N 2°35′31″W / 51.454789°N 2.592076°W / 51.454789; -2.592076
Completed	15th century
Demolished	(partially) 24 November 1940

St Mary le Port is a ruined parish church in the centre of Bristol, England, situated in the area known as Castle Park.

St Mary le Port is said to have been founded in Saxon times after Anglo-Saxon foundations were found during archaeological excavations and Saxon pottery was found nearby. The church was rebuilt and enlarged between the 11th and 16th centuries.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries the church was a very popular centre of evangelical, Protestant, and Calvinist teaching within Anglicanism.

The church was bombed in the Second World War on 24 November 1940 during the Bristol Blitz. John Piper painted an evocative picture of the bombed St Mary le Port. This image appears on the 1/6 British commemorative stamp, part of a set of four paintings by British artists issued in 1968. All that remains of the church is the 15th century tower, a Grade II listed building, and a Scheduled Ancient Monument which during the latter years of the 20th century was surrounded by the buildings of Norwich Union and the Bank of England.

After the bombing in 1940 the congregation and their rector, William Dodgson-Sykes, moved to St John on the Wall Church, where the congregation remained, in gradually declining numbers, till this church building was closed for worship by the Church Commissioners in 1984 (after a protracted struggle by the congregation). The remaining congregation then moved to the Chapel of Foster's Almshouses, and joined the Church of England (Continuing) in 1995. The C of E (Continuing) no longer lists a congregation in Bristol; some of the congregation joined with the new Free Presbyterian Church (Ulster) congregation in Horfield, Bristol.