The Church was originally erected as a dwelling house called “Clayfields”.
It was always thought the Church was a school but there is no evidence of
this except for the Hall at the rear of the Church. The earliest document for the Church is dated 1882.
In the committee room upstairs in the Church is the framed certificate for
the inauguration of the Church into the SNU. This is dated 13th Dec. 1915.
At that time the SNU was set up as a Limited Company!
Although the Church was inaugurated in 1915 the Membership Roll records go
back as far as 1909.
Kate Morgan as the first member in 1909 followed by Mr & Mrs Falconer
in 1910. In the same year a local car dealer by the name of Hendy bought the premises in 1927 and sold it to Ernest Oaten
and others of the SNU on a mortgage of £1200. ( You will see a memorial plaque to Councillor D. Hendy on the front of the
Church rostrum ).
During the 1960s the Hall was used for meetings of the Southampton Cactus
Growers Society and today it still functions for meetings and bazaars.
If you would like further information a copy of the “Potted Histories
of Spiritualist Churches in the South” is available from the Southern District Council.
