St. Mary's Church, Southampton

In 2018, it was announced that the church would undergo an £800,000 renovation and a change in leadership, in order to modernise it and better attract a younger congregation. The internal alterations included the installation of a kitchen and servery, new lighting and sound systems, refurbishment of toilets, and a stage in the centre of the church. Many of the 1950s internal fittings were replaced, and a new font installed in the east end, as well as the restoration of the roof. As part of the modernisation, a church plant took place, with Holy Trinity Brompton installing a new vicar; the churchmanship also changed to Charismatic Evangelical.

Externally, the church follows the traditional cruciform plan, with an aisled nave and chancel, intersected by north and south transepts. There is also a small, conical baptistery at the west end of the north nave aisle, a tower at the same end of the south nave aisle, and vestries east of the chancel. The church building has a footprint of 1117 m2, which according to the Church of England, makes it a "very large" church building. The exterior is constructed mostly from Purbeck stone and ashlar, with Bath stone for decoration. Owing to being the work of three different architects, the exterior can best be described as "Neo-Cistercian", incorporating the lower walls of Street's church, the…

Unlike the exterior, which retains several features of Street's church, the interior mostly reflects Craze's post-war rebuilding. The interior is lofty and spacious, but relatively plain, with high, bare arches spanning the interior. Entering the church through the main entrance below the west window, the conical baptistery is on the left, the only internal part of the church, other than the tower, to survive unaltered from before the bombing. The tower vestibule is on the right, lit by two large Geometrical windows above which is a stone quadripartite vault. The baptistery also contains a quadripartite vault, painted in blue and gold. The main body of the church is seven bays in length:…