There is a rich, uninterrupted history of Christian worship and witness in this parish; a history which continues to grow and change through the generations, and where the current congregation still has an appetite to try new things. We are excited to find out what a new incumbent might bring, both in forms of worship and in continuing to explore opportunities to serve the new development on North Stoneham Park.

We love that we live and worship in a place where God has been honoured for over 1000 years. The first stone building on the site dates back to 1230s, nearly 800 years ago! The rural nature of the parish — with its one-handed clock that called labourers from the fields — was transformed in the nineteenth century as both Southampton and Eastleigh expanded in and around it. The parish church reached out to the new residential area of Bassett, providing schools, caring for the poor, and establishing first the mission church of All Saints, and then the church of St Michael and All Angels on Bassett Avenue, laying its foundation stone at Michaelmas in 1897. The vision of the rectors and parishioners in North Stoneham enabled the growth of these churches in Bassett to serve the main centres of population in the parish for well over a century.

The expansion of the towns, and the demolition of the stately home that was North Stoneham House, left St Nicolas’ isolated from where people lived, and its congregations diminished as a result. Yet today a new community of houses, shops, a school, and a community centre (YMCA) — North Stoneham Park — has been built on its doorstep, with more yet to come. In partnership with the diocese and other churches, the parish is once again reaching out in mission to this new residentialcommunity. All Saints’, true to its mission to serve and pray for the community that surrounds it, continues do so, and has seen encouraging growth as a result. St Michael’s too is seeing growth and reaching out to children and families through its Children’s Church and Junior Choir.