St Mary, South Stoneham

St Mary’s, South Stoneham, is tucked away amongst the University of Southampton’s halls of residence in Swaythling. It has medieval origins with a fine 12th century chancel arch, and a low tower of the late 15th/early 16th century. It contains a range of interesting monuments, including the tomb of Francis Dawtrey, son of John Dawtrey, the builder of Tudor House, and a large baroque monument to Edward Dummer, d.1724, the builder of neighbouring South Stoneham House.

A small amount of early graffiti was found, with a noticeable grouping of concentric circles and crosses carved into the south side of the chancel arch. The earliest initials were found on the tomb of Francis Dawtrey in the chancel: IE, with the date 1632. In the lead lining of the Purbeck font basin, are the clearly chiselled initials RH. This distinctive method of carving, with individual cuts made by a chisel or similar sharp tool, is known as “wriggle work” and is found on pewter and silver vessels of the late 17th/early 18th century, suggesting this is when RH made his (or her) mark.

A large amount of modern graffiti was found in the organ loft, on the organ casing itself and the surrounding pews. This was recorded, and a list of the names, initials and dates was given to the church wardens as a source of information for people researching family history and connections with the church.

Photographs, taken by members of the Medieval Graffiti Survey, are shown below. Each image is linked to a larger version; to see the larger version it may be necessary to allow ‘pop-ups’.

Exterior of St Mary’s church		Griffiti on Francis Dawtrey tomb		Chancel arch, south side. Crosses and intersecting circles
Purbeck font with wriggle work initials RH		Organ loft, modern graffiti 1959		Nave and Chancel arch from organ loft

Survey visit: Jan- March 2018

Surveyors: members of Southampton Archaeology Society.