St Mary, South Stoneham
St Mary, South Stoneham
St Mary’s, South Stoneham, is a Grade I medieval parish church off Wessex Lane in Swaythling, one of only two remaining medieval churches in the city of Southampton, now in the parish of Swaythling in the Diocese of Winchester.
- Location
- South Stoneham, Hampshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Hampshire
- City / town
- South Stoneham
- Address
- Church Close (off Wessex Lane), South Stoneham, Hampshire, SO18 2ST
- Postcode
- SO18 2ST
- Built
- C12 chancel; C13 nave; late C15 or early C16 west tower; north transept 1728; south transept 1854
- Architect
- G. Guillaume (south transept and reconstruction, 1854)
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Mary
- Diocese
- Winchester
- Parish
- Swaythling (St Mary South Stoneham with St Alban)
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Norman, with Gothic and later additions
- Materials
- Stone rubble, tiled roof
- Grid reference
- SU 439 154
- Opening hours
- The community gardening club meets on Tuesday mornings, during which time they would be happy to show you around the church. Alternatively, please contact the Parish Office for access.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas
Overview
A church at South Stoneham is recorded in Domesday Book, then held with dependent churches near Southampton. The present building’s earliest fabric is the twelfth-century chancel and chalk chancel arch; the nave is thirteenth-century and the battlemented west tower late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The church stands in a secluded churchyard almost hidden among University of Southampton halls, a survivor of a once-huge parish that stretched along the Itchen.
The north transept was rebuilt in 1728 to house the baroque monument to Edmund Dummer, attributed to Nicholas Hawksmoor. G. Guillaume reconstructed the south transept and gallery in 1854. The interior retains a late twelfth-century Purbeck marble font and a notable collection of monuments, including a tomb of about 1540 and the Dummer memorial. The church is listed at Grade I (list entry 1179339).