Work is about to begin repairing an unused city centre church in Bristol that is believed to be the burial place of the enslaver Edward Colston.
After the work on the roof of All Saints is completed, the building may be deconsecrated, turned into a community resource and the remains of Colston could be removed.
The problem of how to address places and objects associated with Colston has long troubled Bristol and made headlines around the world when his statue was thrown into the harbour during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020.
For decades, the Diocese of Bristol has considered what to do about All Saints, which has been closed to the public since 1984. Some Bristol churchgoers have expressed concern at the idea of repairing the roof, which is likely to cost about £500,000, when the fabric of other churches with active congregations needs improving.
But on Thursday, the diocese said it was legally required to fix the roof to protect public safety. Work would begin in the next few weeks and take about six months. It also said that the first stage of a consultation exploring the future of All Saints had finished and several potential uses for it had been identified.
The diocese said: “These proposals will be explored and developed further in the second phase of the consultation. The first stage of the consultation engaged with members of Bristol’s African-Caribbean heritage communities, as well as other stakeholders whose work and/or knowledge was deemed relevant to the issue.”
The Right Rev Neil Warwick, the bishop of Swindon and the acting bishop of Bristol, said: “The completion of the first stage of the consultation marks an important step in listening, learning and discerning the most appropriate way forward for the building.”
The diocese said the consultation had involved interviews, focus groups, artistic responses, visits to the building and surveys to gather opinions on the church’s future.
The possibility of demolishing All Saints had been considered in the past, it said, but was considered too costly as the church shares walls with neighbouring businesses and homes.
An attempt to sell the building failed because prospective buyers were worried about the scale of refurbishing it. There were informal discussions with Bristol city council to turn the building into a museum, but the local authority had not wanted to do this.
The diocese refused to set out what the options now were, but a church report published last year suggested relaunching the building as a resource “so that it might contribute towards the diocese of Bristol’s desire to lament, repent and repair relations”.
In this scenario, it is possible Colston’s remains could be exhumed, artefacts removed and the ground deconsecrated.
After the Colston statue was thrown into the harbour, windows celebrating him were removed from two Bristol churches. The diocese said the fall of the statue was a “signal” for it to take action.
In the same year, Bristol’s concert hall was renamed Bristol Beacon, having previously been called Colston Hall. In 2024, the Colston statue was moved to a tucked-away corner of a Bristol museum.
The Rev Melanie Otto, vicar of St Agnes in St Paul’s in Bristol, told the Guardian she was disappointed that money was being spent on a closed church when her community was struggling to find £887,000 for maintenance work on its tower and building.
She said: “I understand it’s a legal requirement for the work to be done on All Saints but the optics are not good. Members of my congregation and parish feel that the diocese values All Saints more than they do St Agnes, which serves the community of St Paul’s.”
She said St Agnes was at the heart of the Black community in Bristol. “It has served the Windrush generation and its descendants for decades but the building has been neglected and major work is needed in order to ensure its viability for generations to come.
“We are currently dealing with crumbling stonework on our tower and major cracks in the parapets as well as on the windows. We hope to raise the funds to repair St Agnes but this feels like an overwhelming and uphill struggle. And this feels even more disheartening when we see church funds being spent on a closed church, with no worshipping community and an enslaver enshrined within it.”
A spokesperson for the diocese said: “Our church buildings team has been working closely with the parish to assess the structural repairs and restoration required for the church tower, as well as other essential works needed to safeguard the historic building.
“The diocese has different legal responsibilities for open and closed church buildings. The works currently taking place at All Saints are a statutory requirement and essential to protect public safety. We understand the concerns raised by St Agnes, and we regret any distress caused because of these legal obligations.”
