The Pro-Cathedral of the Holy Apostles was the Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of Bristol, England from 1850 to 1973. The Pro-Cathedral was replaced in 1973 by the Cathedral Church of SS. Peter and Paul, also known as Clifton Cathedral. It is a Grade II Listed Building. Early Catholicism in Bristol Prior to the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1791, Roman Catholics suffered from religious discrimination and were not allowed to hold public office. Whilst no longer an act of High treason punishable by hanging, drawing and quartering, being a Catholic priest was then liable to life imprisonment. General prejudice ran deep: in the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots of 1780, an estimated 1,000 people died. History By Catholic emancipation, and the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, the Roman Catholics in Bristol used places of worship in private houses or above a Public house. They had used a third party to discretely buy a plot, known as Stoney Fields, on Honeypen Hill (now Park Place, Clifton). The Palladian building Under Bishop Peter Augustine Baines, Vicar-Apostolic of the Western District, in 1834, work commenced on the building. The parish priest of the Trenchard Street Chapel, Fr. Edgeworth laid the foundation stone. The Georgian Palladian design was by Henry E. Goodridge, a Bath architect employed by Bishop Baines at Prior Park. A nave, on an imposing basement storey in Bath stone ashlar was to be surrounded by Corinthian three-quarter Columns, with further Corinthian columns on the Transepts. No drawings survive of the planned sanctuary end or interior, but a circular lantern tower surrounded by Corinthian columns was to light the sanctuary from above and the main entrance was through a Corinthian portico. Problems with the site The weight of the rising structure, on what was a challenging hillside site, caused the foundations to repeatedly give way. This was a similar problem to that faced by Isambard Kingdom Brunel at Clifton Suspension Bridge at around the same time. A second attempt to reinforce the foundations was made in 1843. Faced with financial difficulties (which as Parish priest he was personally responsible for), Fr. Edgeworth fled to Antwerp, bankrupt, where he died in 1850. Bishop Baines was encumbered with the restoration of Prior Park after a fire in 1836, and was unable to assist. The ruined building and land was repossessed by the Newport Bank. The building lay abandoned until 1848, although mass was celebrated