About us at Brun
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The original
Brunswick Road Baptist Church was (as you might
have guessed) in Brunswick Road, and the new premises were built
in 1973.
What did the "old Brun" look like?
Here is a short history, taken
from an insert pasted into our old copies of the Baptist
Hymn Book.
And below it are some photos, courtesy of Dorothy
Manley. |
Picture from an insert pasted into the back
of our old
Baptist Hymn Books.
Scroll down to see enlargements below.
The Pulpit at Brunswick Road.
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Brunswick Road
Baptist Church, Gloucester
"The Church was formed on October 3rd, 1813 in a room in
New Inn Lane when seven Baptists who had been
worshipping with other Congregations in the City were
formed into a gospel church by the Rev. Thomas Flint
of the Uley Union Church. They subsequently invited Mr.
Flint to become their pastor which he did, labouring
with them for six years and adding seven further members
to the Church.
"The second minister was Dr. George Box Drayton, a
medical man living at Kingsholm, who had been one of the
founder members and a deacon. In 1836 the Church
dissolved itself and the members formed themselves into
an open membership Church with a Communion Table open to
all believers. This did not meet with the approval of a
large number and in 1839 a compromise was reached when
the Church became open in its invitation to the Lord's
Table and closed in its membership. It has, broadly,
retained this position until the present day.
"It was under the ministry of the Rev. W. Collins that
the Church really began to flourish and in the great
days of non-conformist expansion in the Victorian era,
the Church grew and prospered. A division occurred in
1893 when the Rev. J. E. Barton left to form the Kendal
Road Baptist Church, then meeting in the Corn Exchange,
Southgate Street.
"The high point in the Church's life was reached in the
ministry of the Rev. Edmund Rusling when the membership
exceeded four hundred. Mr. Rusling died very suddenly in
1935 and a number of tragic events culminating in the
war transpired so that the promise of those days was not
realised.
"The Church purchased the present site in 1821. The
present building was erected in J846 and substantially
re-built in 1872 when the pulpit was moved from in front
of the Organ pipes to its present position. The School
Halls were not built until 1896.
"Trinity, Finlay Road and Grange Road Baptist Churches
were formed by workers from Brunswick Road in 1929 and
1947 respectively. Matson Baptist Church is associated
with Brunswick Road at the present time."
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