Hide
New Community Church, Southampton
hide
Hide
Hide
New Community Church,
Central Hall, St Mary Street,
Southampton,
Hampshire
Hide
Originally built as the Wesleyan Methodist Central Hall it followed the style of providing a projector room and the halls were often part financed by Joseph Rank [later Lord Rank] who provided religious films which were shown to a large audience. The best way to get a seat was to attend the service as films were shown after the service and this brought regular family attendances to each Sunday service. Through a combination of social work, entertainment and Methodist fellowship, the Central Hall attracted weekly congregations from the nearby working class housing. The Central Hall also provided space for philanthropic and charitable organisations and so was very much public sacred space and in use by a wide variety of people and in the service of the wider community.
Central Halls in England were built between 1886 and 1945, in most major British towns and cities mainly by the Wesleyan Methodist Church. Situated on wide main thoroughfares they are camouflaged churches - a stark contrast to traditional churches with a cruciform plan and Gothic detailing. This Central Hall was opened in 1925. The Central Hall has been owned by the New Community Church since 1989, and the alterations to the interior were part of an ongoing renovation project. With a seating capacity of up to 800, the tiered venue has seating blocks at both sides of the stage, as well as raised seating at the back of the hall. The outside of the building however remains very much a local landmark in an area with modern bypass roads and nearby modern shopping centres.
The projector room very much part of its identity of promoting religious and education films produced by the Rank Organisation remains within the building.
The Hall was the focal of several large evangelical preachers including George Jefferys and his "South Coast Conquests" and Billy Graham the American preacher who preached his mission to 185 countries throughout the world.
In 1965 it was sold to Hampshire County Council Education Service and used as an annexe to the City College and passed to the present owner in 1989.
- OpenStreetMap
- Google Maps
- StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
- Bing (was Multimap)
- Old Maps Online
- National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
- Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
- English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
- Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
- GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)