High Town, Bursledon Road, Southampton

In the late 1950s I used to cycle to work at the International Stores (formerly Smithers) in Bitterne. I recall the Methodist chapel in High Town, on the corner of Botley Road and Bursledon Road as a green painted galvanised iron building (but that may be subject to correction!!). We used to deliver a weekly order to a lady who lived in Botley Road immediately behind the chapel and who was very much involved in the work of the chapel – her name escapes me. I have been able to find the chapel only on the 1947 OS map and no others; the description is ‘Meth Church’. The 1940 buildings list says it was wooden and seated 120 on forms. There is modern housing now on the site.

There is a website (Sotonopedia) maintained by the Local Studies Department of Southampton Central Library which has a section on Methodism and sections on each of the chapels in the area. It seems to owe quite a lot to a book published in 1964 by local historian Jim Brown to commemorate the silver jubilee of St Andrews Methodist Church, Sholing.

This is taken from the Sotonopedia webpage on Hightown ‘In 1905, the Bible Christians at Hedge End established a Sunday School in a barn in Hightown, opposite Netley Lodge. The barn was replaced in 1919 by an army hut that had been surplus to requirements at Netley. The congregation eventually joined with the Methodist Church in South East Road to build the new St Andrew’s Methodist Church in Butts Road in 1968-69.’ The page has a photo of the interior too.

St Andrews closed in 2010 and was used by various community groups until 2022. It was  sold in 2024 and became  a Day Nursery.

Keith Guyler has a photo of St Andrews.

Geoffrey Goodall’s Closed Chapels document lists Sholing Chapel Manor Road as Hightown. This was also a Bible Christian chapel.

There is a post on My Methodist History website covering all the chapels in the Woolston/Sholing area.