Southampton's Chantry - a highway to heaven

Chantry Chapels were built on private land or were dedicated areas within a Parish Church or Cathedral. They were for the performance of the “chantry duties”.

These were masses chanted by priests for the soul of a person - who had donated money for the ceremony - to shorten the time spent in Purgatory and hasten their journey to Heaven.

The Southampton Chantry may have been serviced by priests from St Mary’s Church or by the monks from the Franciscan Convent of Friars Minor. The convent was established in Southampton about 1237, which stood between modern-day Briton Street to the north and Gloucester Square to the south. One of the tile pictures seen on Friary House from Back of the Walls shows monks at their devotions.

The first Chantry House, or Chanter’s House, was built at an unknown date, to the south of Chapel Road, opposite St. Mary’s Church and surrounded by the Chantry Lands.

Commissioners of Edward VI reported in 1547 that they could neither discover by whose devotion the Chantry House had been founded, nor exactly what property belonged to it. But what they did know was that the house and lands were let at the rate of £13 6s 8d per annum.

The building was demolished in 1550 and it is said the rubble was used to build the foundations of East Street.

A replacement Chantry House was built soon after 1550 and burnt down in 1706.

A further replacement also burnt down in 1801.

In 1802 the Deanery, a much smaller structure, was built on the same site as the Rectory House for St Mary’s Church. The building seems to have obtained its name from Dean Ogle, who was Dean of both Winchester and St Mary’s from 1767 to 1797.

It was partly demolished in the 1960s with the last remnants surviving until 1984.

In 1925, Chantry Hall was built by architect Herbert Bryant in the grounds of the Deanery, to serve as a meeting hall for parish groups.

The Hall’s finest hour came during the Second World War when services were held there for a time after St Mary’s Church was severely damaged in air raids.

It was later home to Scouts, Guides, pensioners’ clubs, dancing classes, the Southampton Music Festival, a night-club and a discotheque.

In 2007 a blaze swept through the hall, almost destroying the building, and it was demolished in 2008.

The names of the Chantry and the Deanery survived in a number of ways over the years.

Chantry Road is now rather isolated from the Chantry site, accessed over the Chantry Railway Footbridge. The road linking to Marsh Lane to the west of the bridge, now part of the City Commerce Centre, was also Chantry Road before the railway cut it in half.

The stone rubble Deanery Wall once encircled the Deanery site. The remaining walls along Chapel Road, two sections about 9 ft in height, are medieval with statutory Grade II listing. The walls to the south on Marsh Lane are much later.

The Deanery s was built in 1930. It was Southampton’s first purpose-built mixed secondary school.

Because of its position in the inner city it became truly multi-racial, drawing in pupils from many communities and countries. It closed in 1989 and Carpathia Drive is now located on the site.

There are two Solent University Student Halls of Residence, Chantry Hall and Deanery Hall. There are also flats named Deanery Court in Endle Street, as well as a Chantry House in Albert Road North.

Football and Cricket were played on the Deanery Field to the south of the Deanery buildings.

In 1880, a group of schoolteachers formed Deanery FC and it was absorbed five years later by Southampton St Mary’s club, later to become Southampton FC.

The Deanery Cricket Club, which produced some great Hampshire players, joined forces with Lyndhurst CC in the late 1990s, and then amalgamated with Ashurst CC in 2004.

Jack Wilson is a tour guide with SeeSouthampton.co.uk .

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this article - we appreciate your support in reading the Daily Echo.

Subscribing to the Echo means you have unrestricted access to the  latest news, features and Saints coverage - all with an advertising-light website.

You will also have full access to Saintsplus, your new home for Southampton FC tactical analysis, features and much, much more.

Don't just take my word for it - subscribe today.

Follow the latest breaking news in the Southampton area by searching Southampton News - Breaking News and Incidents on Facebook

Follow the latest court and crime news on our dedicated group by searching Hampshire Court and Crime News on Facebook