All Saints' Church, Southampton

All Saints' Church
All Saints' Church with neighbouring shops (and East Street in between) in 1852
Shown within Southampton
Former names	All Hallows' Church
General information
Status	Destroyed
Type	Church
Location	Southampton City Centre
Address	High Street, Southampton
Coordinates	50°54′07″N 1°24′15″W / 50.90182°N 1.40409°W / 50.90182; -1.40409
Construction started	Spring 1792
Completed	1795
Destroyed	30 November / 1 December 1940
Design and construction
Architect	Willey Reveley

All Saints' Church was a church building in Southampton City Centre, located on the corner of the High Street and East Street, a short distance south of the Bargate.

The original church on the site was named All Hallows, and was constructed in medieval times on land granted by the monarch at the time, Henry II, to the monks of St. Denys Priory. This building fell into disrepair and in the 1790s a new church building was constructed and the church renamed to All Saints. The old church was demolished in 1791 and the new building was completed in 1795, following two acts of Parliament allowing trustees of the church to raise funds from rates on property and rents in the parish. The All Hallows catacombs were incorporated into the All Saints building, and a separate graveyard was established. The church was regularly attended by author Jane Austen while she lived in Southampton and painter Sir John Everett Millais was baptised there. A new organ was installed in the church in 1861 and a substantial refurbishment programme took place in 1872. All Saints was heavily damaged in the Southampton Blitz and was subsequently demolished.

The All Saints building was designed by architect Willey Reveley and featured an arched ceiling that spanned the whole sanctuary, some 90 feet (27 m) long and 60 feet (18 m) wide, without the use of any supporting pillars. The neoclassical frontage of the church was dominated by four columns supporting Grecian pilasters and a triangular pediment.

The catacombs were the resting place of a chancellor of the Exchequer and two notable Royal Navy officers among others. In August 1944 the remains of all 403 people buried in the catacombs were transferred to a communal grave elsewhere in Southampton.

Henry II, king of England from 1154 to 1189, granted land for the construction of All Hallows' Church to the monks of St. Denys Priory during his reign. The original church, located on the corner of the High Street and East Street, a short distance south of the Bargatehad a chancel and nave with north aisle, and a tower in three stages at its western end. The parish registers date from 1653. The Great Ejection of 1662 led to a number of people being ejected from All Hallows, and these went on to form what would become Above Bar Church and Avenue St Andrew's United Reformed Church. Among their number was the rector of the church at the time, Nathaniel Robinson. The church had five bells, but three of them were stolen one night in September 1682 and never found, despite an award being offered by the Mayor of Southampton, John Speed, in the London Gazette.