St James' by the Park (sometimes known as Shirley Parish Church) is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

which meets in

Shirley, Southampton Shirley is a broad district and a former village on the western side of Southampton, in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. Shirley's main roles are retailing and residential. It is the most important suburban shopping area in the we ...

. Following the closure of St John's Church, the parish has one

church building A church, church building, church house, or chapel is a building used for Christian worship services and Christian activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 AD and 256 AD. ''Church'' is also ...

, the

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

St James'.

History

The

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

records a church being present at Shirley in 1085, but on 1 May 1574 the parish of Shirley was amalgamated with that of Millbrook as the small Shirley congregation could not afford the upkeep of the Shirley church building. The Shirley church was demolished in 1609, with stones from the old building used to enlarge St Nicholas' Church building in Millbrook. By 1836, the population of the combined parish had reached 2,375 inhabitants, and the old Millbrook parish church was too small. Land was donated for a new church building in Shirley by Nathaniel Newman Jefferys, and Church Building Society combined with private funding to pay for the structure itself. The new church, dedicated to St. James, was designed by local architect William Hinves and consecrated on 20 August 1836 by the

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' the offic ...

with a large crowd present despite "unfavourable weather", according to the ''Hampshire Advertiser'' newspaper. The newspaper went on to give this description of the new building:

It contains six hundred sittings. At the back of the
altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...
is a gothic screen, divided into three components, the outer
entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...
s contain the
Commandments Commandment may refer to: * The Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, ...
, the
Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...
and the Belief, the centre entablature the
crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...
by Shayer, a first rate painting, the head of life itself and the expression of subdued anguish is beautifully conceived and awakes the feeling of an intense degree of interest. It is one of the happiest of his late products.

The building was also described in 1848 as "a handsome structure in the later English style, with a square embattled

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

". The first

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of Shirley was the Reverend William Orger, who looked after the parish for 25 years. During this time, the church grew quickly, to such an extent that the building was added to within a few years of its consecration.

Balconies A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...

added in 1840 raised the capacity to 1080. In 1848, only 432 of these pews were free, implying a regular congregation of around 600. A church

clock A clock or chronometer is a device that measures and displays time. The clock is one of the oldest Invention, human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month, a ...

was provided in 1875, and further new pews and a new

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

were added in 1881. In 1912, the parish register for St John's was started, the church being originally based in a temporary tin building. Plans to rebuild St John's church were submitted in 1957, with amended plans submitted and approved in 1959. The foundation stone of the new building was laid by the

, Dr Alwyn Williams. The building was subsequently adapted into a community centre named St John's Centre. The interior of the St James' building was renovated in 1994; the pews were removed and the floor levelled and carpeted. On 1 March 2016, they further updated their seating with the addition of new chairs that now blue and are more cushioned than the previous ones. In 2020 it was reported that St John's Centre could be demolished and replaced with housing and plans were submitted later that year to replace the building with five houses. Permission for those plans was refused and new plans were submitted in 2021 to replace the St John's building with four houses; this planning application was withdrawn in October 2022. The St John's building was sold to the Church of Pentecost and handed over at a joint celebration in early 2023.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint James Church, Shirley Churches completed in 1836 19th-century Church of England church buildings Church of England church buildings in Hampshire Churches in Southampton Grade II listed churches in Hampshire