St Stephen's Church is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

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 ...

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

(formerly in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

), England. The liturgical life of the church is rooted in the

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...

tradition A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common e ...

, and the building features a noted

lady chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British English, British term for a chapel dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church (building), church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chape ...

. The church is close to Bournemouth town centre and

Meyrick Park Meyrick Park () is a suburb and area of Bournemouth, Dorset. The park itself features a main field with rugby pitches, surrounded by elevated woodland on both sides and a golf course around the western side. Dog-walking is permitted on both, an ...

History

The church was designed by the architect

John Loughborough Pearson John Loughborough Pearson (5 July 1817 – 11 December 1897) was a British Gothic Revival architect renowned for his work on churches and cathedrals. Pearson revived and practised largely the art of vaulting, and acquired in it a proficie ...

as a memorial to Alexander Morden Bennett, first vicar of

St Peter's Church, Bournemouth St Peter's Church is a Church of England parish church located in the Bournemouth Town Centre, centre of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. It is a Grade I listed building classed as a 'major parish church', and was completed in 1879 to a design by ...

. It is constructed with

Purbeck stone Purbeck stone refers to building stone taken from a series of limestone beds found in the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Group, found on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset in southern England. The best known variety of this stone is Purbeck ...

and

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate originally obtained from the Middle Jurassic aged Great Oolite Group of the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its h ...

. Its

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

was built from 1881 to 1883 and the

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 ...

from 1896 to 1897. The tower was built from 1907 to 1908. It is a Grade I

listed building 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, Hi ...

. It was in here, on 15 March 1888, that the wedding between

Oscar Bernadotte Prince Oscar Carl August Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (15 November 1859 – 4 October 1953) was a Swedish religious activist, the second son of King Oscar II of Sweden and his consort, Sofia of Nassau. Born as a Prince of Sweden and Norway, h ...

of Sweden, son of King

Oscar II Oscar II (Oscar Fredrik; 21 January 1829 – 8 December 1907) was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death in 1907 and King of Norway from 1872 to 1905. Oscar was the son of King Oscar I and Queen Josephine. He inherited the Swedish and Norweg ...

, and Ebba Munck af Fulkila, took place.

Vicars

*1881–1911 Alexander Sykes Bennett *1911–28 George Philip Trevelyan *1928–44 Philip Harold Rogers *1944–52 Geoffrey Heald *1952–58 Francis John Michael Dean *1958–62 Charles Edward Burnett Neate *1962–70 George Percy Wilkins *1970–73 Anthony Douglas Caesar *1974–83 John David Corbett *1983–87 John Catlin *1987–94 Paul Hastrop *1994–2012 Robin Harger *2009–2023 Ian Terry *2024– Nicholas Lawrence Jepson-Biddle

Music

The church has an organ by William Hill dating from 1898. A specification of the organ can be found on th
National Pipe Organ Register
There is also a small five-stop chamber organ dating from 1870. The specification of the chamber organ can also be found on th
National Pipe Organ Register

List of organists

*1881–93 T. J. Baker *1894–1930 Henry Holloway *1930–35 Percy Whitlock *1936–66 Cyril Knight *1967–75 Spencer Fackerell *1976 Roger Hill *1976–82 Cyril Knight *1982–88 Ian Harrison *1988–94 Anthony Wood *1994–2019 Ian Harrison *2019–2024 Sean Tucker

Gallery

File:Views from the Eye (7) - St Stephen's Church - geograph.org.uk - 1505447.jpg, Viewed from the Bournemouth Eye File:Bournemouth St Stephen's church.jpg, Main entrance File:St Stephens Bournemouth reredos.JPG, Behind the altar File:St Stephen Church.jpg, View from the street File:St Stephen's Church, Bournemouth.jpg, Front door view File:Bournemouth, tower of St. Stephen's from Meyrick Park - geograph.org.uk - 1772602.jpg, Viewed from

File:Bournemouth, looking down on a snow-covered St. Stephen’s church - geograph.org.uk - 2186452.jpg, Snow covered church File:Bournemouth, St. Stephen’s church in snow - geograph.org.uk - 2183895.jpg, Winter scene File:Church of Saint Stephen, Bournemouth (02).jpg, View from the southeast

References