St Edmund's R C Church

Story

St Edmund Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Southampton, Hampshire. It is situated on the corner of The Avenue and Rockstone Place. It was built in 1889 and is a Grade II listed building.HistoryFoundationThe first Roman Catholic church that was built in Southampton after the Reformation was St Joseph Church. In 1867, the priest there decided that a new church was needed in Southampton to the serve the growing Catholic population in the city. In 1884, two years after the Diocese of Portsmouth was created, St Edmund Church was built. It was temporary, made of iron and was named after Saint Edmund of Abingdon, co-patron of the diocese.ConstructionOn 21 June 1888, construction began on a larger and permanent St Edmund Church. The architect was J. William Lunn, who also designed Corpus Christi Church in Boscombe, Corpus Christi Church in Portsmouth and St Catherine Church in Chipping Camden. It was opened on 20 November 1889, the birth date of Saint Edmund of Abingdon. Present at the church's opening was the Bishop of Portsmouth, John Vertue, and Canon Alexander Scoles, who was an architect himself.