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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Hampshire & Isle of Wight => Topic started by: Westy on Tuesday 14 October 08 17:09 BST (UK)
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I have traced back to Huguenot ancestors who settled in Southampton in the mid 1500's and the names appear to be well documented. What I would like to know is the name of the church that they worshiped in when they arrived here, which may take me to where they are buried. Any ideas ?
Westy
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Hi Westy,
There was a Huguenot church in Southampton and the records have been published by the Huguenot Society on one of their CD Roms:
http://huguenotsociety.org.uk/publications/cdrom.html
CD Rom 5 B:
Walloon and Huguenot churches outside London (2):
Vol. IV - Registre de I'Eglise Wallonne de Southampton
There is also something about the church in this work:
The French-speaking Reformed Community and their Church in Southampton 1567-1620
by A.Spicer. Huguenot Society New Series, No. 3, 1997.
Nell
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I have traced back to Huguenot ancestors who settled in Southampton in the mid 1500's and the names appear to be well documented. What I would like to know is the name of the church that they worshiped in when they arrived here, which may take me to where they are buried. Any ideas ?
Westy
I don't know if you have found out yet, but the church/chapel where the Huguenot's in Southampton worshipped is St Juliens in Winkle Street which is at the bottom of High Street near Gods House Tower.
There is no burial ground and never was, any more than there was for any other church in Southampton City, other than the mother church, St Marys.
In order to keep St Juliens sanctified there is a service (usually in June) once a year but for the rest of the year it is closed to the public (due to vandalism).
St Julians was originally the Chapel of Gods House Hospice and founded in 1185. Gods House Tower itself is one of the watch towers incorporated in the Town Walls. It is today a Museum of Southampton's history as seen thru archeology.
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Thanks for that last post, its the first I had heard of St Juliens so its worth a look. I normally get an email when a post has a reply but for some reason I didn't get one this time and only found it by chance while browsing the new posts. I have various family (very distant) looking for confirmation of the Huguenot link but I am sure its correct and this will add another piece to the puzzle
Cheers
Westy
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Hi Westy,
Glad to be of help. I worked at Gods House Tower for 15 years before I retired. If you need any more background stuff on St Juliens send me a PM and I can maybe help via some of the books etc that I own and knowledge I gained.
Regards
Vicwinann
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I have arranged with the trustees Queen's College, Oxford to open St Julien's for public viewing for three Sundays during the summer [no service just a viewing]. Parking is available [on street] in nearby Bugle Street or at the far end of Town Quay [privately owned carpark open to the public] or nearby Mayflower Park [council owned parking].
The dates are 27th June 2010 noon to 4pm
25th July 2010 10am to 4pm 29th August 2010 10am to 4pm
Some information on the church appears on the City of Southampton Society website http://www.coss.org.uk
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Re: VICWINANN's note re burial grounds with Southampton Churches.
Which church/s used the old burial ground where the Eastgate Street Multistory car park now stands.
I can remember the site was cleared and for many years, with all the grave stones stood up arround the site, it was used as an un-surfaced car park before the building of the multistory one.
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Thanks for the info on St Juliens, I will make a note of the dates and definately go. I have been and looked at the outside but would love to go in
Westy
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lookingforold I think the old cemetery that used to be there was linked to All Saints church I believe...
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Thanks Liz, I seem to remember that was the bombed church at the top of East Street.
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Yes, that's the one, the 18th century one with huge pillars at the front which was bombed in 1940 and knocked down eventually.
http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/SCCLibraries/3223.asp
http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/SCCLibraries/2370.asp
Liz
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Westy
According to the Victoria County History the Walloons were permitted to settle in 1567 after a begrudging nod with strings from the Southampton Gild and Corporation and with consent from Queen Elizabeth through Lord Cecil. This was the time also that they obtained permission to have a place of worship of their own and were granted the use of the God's House chapel, owned, as has already been pointed out, by Queen's College, Oxford.
The chapel had a history that was reasonably settled it seems except at the turn of the eighteenth century when the Church was effectively taken into the Church of England. The VCH does not mention about burials but it does mention that the CofE classed St Julian (or the French Church as it is also known) as a chapel in the parish of Holy Rood. If I were looking for records of the burials I would be searching for the records relating to the host bodies as much as of the church itself. Therefore I would be wanting to see the records of Queen's College in respect of the church; I'd want to see the burial records for Holy Rood, which may be in the Southampton Archive or they may be in the Hampshire record office at Winchester as the diocesan record office.
Southampton's church history is complicated and someone has already mentioned about the 'mother church' being St Mary's, but the walled town included four entire parishes and part of a fifth. The churches for these ancient parishes suffered, as has been explained, in the Blitz with All Saints (the parish that extended well beyond the walls) being destroyed, Holy Rood is now a war memorial, at least the shell of the bombed church is, St John's, one of the original French churches of the Domesday period is gone with the other French Church St Michael's standing proudly still today. I cannot remember the other parish and since it has nothing to do with St Julian I shall not go and look it up. The fact that Holy Rood was so severely damaged, it may be that some registers and records were destroyed.
Good luck in your quest
John
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I went to the open day on 27th June and it is a beautiful little chapel inside & out. After speaking to the curators on the day I have been advised to look at the Huguenot special collections in Southampton Library which I will do when I have some time. I have the Huguenot CD which I will have another look at for some help and I may try to contact Queens College to see what records they have
Cheers
Westy
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I'm glad that you got to see the chapel; I admit that I had a sneek look once when the door was open for reasons that I still do not know, but since the lights were out and it seemed as if I was intruding I did not linger long.
I have Oxford University connections of old and I know that some records have also made their way into the county archives, so Queens may have it, but if they don't try the Oxfordshire archives too.
regards
John
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I have email the archivist at Queens so will wait to see what they have to say
Cheers