Southampton Shirley Bible Christian Church

This stood between nos 26 and 30, Stratton Road, Shirley. It was built by the Bible Christians, later the United Methodist Church, in 1867. According to “Our Zions and Bethels”, a survey of the United Methodist Churches on the eve of Methodist Union, this was when Shirley was a comparatively small village, with Stratton Road “as its main street.” The church was registered for marriages 13 February 1895.

By 1932, the road had become “a back street, quite hidden from the principal thoroughfares, and somewhat difficult for strangers to find.” Although the large Wesleyan church in St James Road was not far away, the smaller “cause” in Stratton Road, with its 50 members, was described as a “live, aggressive church,” and continued in existence until the late 1940s. By 1951, there are no services recorded as taking place at Stratton Road, and no officers or members listed on the Southampton Methodist Circuit Plans.

The church finally appears in the January-March quarter of 1952, an empty line where the names of preachers should be. The property had been sold to the Allotment Holders Association in 1951 for £951. The section of Stratton Road where this little chapel stood was demolished in the 1960s, and Wordsworth Primary School was built on the site.