St Denys
Coordinates: 50°55′26″N 1°23′10″W / 50.9238°N 1.386°W
St Denys is a district of Southampton, England, approximately 3 miles (5 km) north of the city centre, opposite Bitterne Park on the River Itchen, to which it is linked by Cobden Bridge. It is now bounded by the river, and by the railway and A335 bypass, which divided part of the original parish from the remainder.
The area is named after the 12th century St. Denys Priory, which never particularly thrived and of which now there is extremely little remaining, aside from an archway of the original chapel and another archway now relocated in the city centre. The current church dates from 1868 and was designed by George Gilbert Scott.
St Denys originally consisted of little but farmland, but its housing was heavily developed from the mid 19th century onwards, and is now populated with a wide mix of younger working families, older residents and students.
Key and interesting features of St Denys include:
- Evidence of a Roman river crossing to Clausentum on the east of the river, and other Roman archeology
- Many homes from where Titanic victims and survivors originated
- A history of large laundries providing local employment, servicing Southampton's ocean liners
- A large sewage works built on what were originally salt meadows
- Considerable war time bombing because of the area's proximity to the railway connecting London and Southampton Docks
- A small community of houseboats that are conversions from World War II motor torpedo boats
Gallery
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St Denys railway station platforms
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Cobden Bridge
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