History

At the end of the 1800s Easton was a mixture of housing, coal mining, industry and market gardens. The population of Bristol was increasing rapidly and with the religious boom in the second half of the 19th century, an 1881 survey showed 45% of the population of Bristol were attending weekly services.

On 16 May 1893, All Hallows (a daughter church of All Saints’ in the City of Bristol_ was created as a district of St Mark and St Matthew Moorfields. On 24 June that year the Vicar of All Saints in the City, Fr. Boustead, was licensed to the newly founded district of All Hallows. On 3 January 1894 the Bishop dedicated an ‘iron church’.

9 October 1899 marked the ‘Dig of the First Sod’ of the new church by children from the Sunday School. 17 of March 1900 saw the Laying of the Foundation Stone by the Master of the Merchant Venturers’ Society. The new church, designed by Sir George Oatley, famous for building the Bristol University’s Great Tower at the top of Park Street, was consecrated by Bishop Forrest Browne, Bishop of Bristol on 2 November 1901. There was further consecration of the more complete building on 17 May 1903.

1921 saw All Hallows being made into a separate parish. In 1939 the iron church was removed and the present building was completed. Although Sir George Oatley had intended a further two arches to the nave and a tower, this tall church has a main arcade, though inspiring in scale it is deliberately undramatic in detail in order to concentrate on the east end. What Oatley achieved in the east end is an unmistakable concentration of emotional energy, defining the choir as a sanctuary without surrendering it from contact with the wide and open spaces of the congregation; his church is both fully congregational and liturgical.