From About Bristol:
"St Stephen's was outside the old city wall but enclosed by the later one.
The elegance of its 15th Century Perpendicular Gothic style tower has been
remarked upon for centuries by travellers and historians.

"This tower was paid for by a Mayor of the city, John Shipward, in about 1470.
He has been described as 'a merchant of the first respectability in the age in which he flourished...
at his death he bequeathed large estates to charitable purposes'.

"The crisply carved lines of the tower still rise above
the far less distinguished buildings that this century has thrown around it.
The body of the church, however is shadowed by this enclosure.

"St Stephen's is the official parish church of the city."

From The Bristol Slave Trade Walk:
"Once curate and rector of St Stephen's Church, Josiah Tucker was best known for his writings advocating a free market and religious tolerance.
While Dean of Gloucester, he helped the abolitionist Thomas Clarkson with his early investigations into the slave trade."