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St Paul's and St Agnes'

1986 marked the centenary of the opening of the parish church of St Agnes in the St Paul's area of Bristol. At the consecration of the church on 2 March, 1886, the whole of Clifton College - masters and boys - crowded into the church to hear a sermon by Dr Percival. Among the gifts from members of the school were the brass lectern, the gaslight fittings in the chancel, the organ (paid for out of Chapel collections) and the stone pulpit.

St Agnes was the first church built for a public school mission, and James Wilson's colleagues on the Headmasters' Conference showed their interest in the project by coming to preach. On successive Sundays in Lent in that first year the preachers were the headmasters of Uppingham, Haileybury, Marlborough and Harrow.

The mission had been started in the parish of St Barnabas, Ashley Road, in 1875 by a committee of masters, Old Cliftonians and boys. A curate was appointed, the Revd H. D. Rawnsley, who vividly described the area as he first saw it:

Mr Rawnsley left, after valiant struggles, for a life in the Lake District. When Canon Wilson became Headmaster in 1880, the mission had been reduced to "a Temperance Coffee House that was run at a loss." A new curate was found - the Revd T. W. Harvey, soon to marry the Headmaster's elder half-sister.

In 1882 a mission hall was opened. It was designed by the College architect, Charles Hansom, and looked not unlike a miniature version of Big School. The people of the district chose the name St Agnes, we are told, because they wanted "a name new to Bristol and a 'lady saint'".

The school's contribution to the St Agnes district extended beyond the provision of a mission hall. In 1884 a working men's club was built, and the following year Canon Wilson at last persuaded the City Council to purchase what was left of the old Newfoundland Gardens on condition that he laid it out as a public park.

Then came that dramatic day in March, 1889, when a telegram arrived at School House: "District flooded; come at once." The Headmaster quickly ordered large quantities of candles and essential food from an Ashley Road coffee-house, and drove down to the harbour where he commandeered a boat. He transported that boat to St Agnes on an empty coal-cart. The boat was launched in one of the flooded streets, and Headmaster and boatman worked late into the night, handing food and candles in through upper windows.

When the floods went down, Mission Hall and Club Room were deep in mud. The College fire brigade was called out, and the Clifton boys - clad somewhat unsuitably in white flannels - took the machine down to St Agnes and hosed and swept and cleaned. That was on a Sunday. By Monday the school had set up a relief fund to replace ruined mats, rugs and bedding, and the Mission became a relief centre. And to prevent any repetition, Canon Wilson badgered the City Council into replacing the damaged culvert that had caused the flooding.

Clifton preserved its connection with the boys and girls of St Paul's by means of summer camps and sports fixtures, and in the school jubilee year of 1912, the St Agnes Scout troop marched round the College. A boys' club and a girls' club had been built in the 1890's, together with a gymnasium. By then Canon Wilson had left Clifton, and perhaps no-one else quite shared his vision. It is said that once when Wilson suggested to a sixth-former a new project for St Agnes, the boy replied that he would prefer something should be done for the school. Wilson's answer was characteristic: "Yes, it is a natural wish. St Agnes must wait. I will give £2000, and we will start at once, if possible, with the Tower."

The Wilson Tower still stands and Clifton's link with St Agnes and St Paul's continues through the school's community service programme.

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