Jenny, Pigot's 1830 Directory lists on p. 246 eight parish churches in Winchester, including St Thomas, in St Thomas street. The Directory goes on to note that: "there is also ... a neat Roman Catholic chapel" - perhaps St Thomas More? I don't know much about Winchester so shan't comment any further. The parish church of Alverstoke is St Mary: it's located in Alverstoke village, now part of Gosport. Alverstoke parish is an ancient one, its origins lost in the mists of time. Gosport was relatively insignificant until the Royal Dockyard at Portsmouth started to grow in importance in the 18th century and its activities and labour demands spilled over into Gosport. Portsmouth itself grew rapidly at the same time. The evolution of local government in Gosport is as convoluted as it gets, coloured by rivalry between Alverstoke and Gosport, and marked by confusion as to the "correct" name at any one time. Briefly, until 1761 the only local authority was the parish of St Mary, Alverstoke. In that year the Gosport Commissioners were created with certain limited powers. Prior to that, in a 1682 charter to the Borough of Portsmouth, Charles II had included Gosport in Portsmouth borough. This charter was nullified as part of the negotiations leading to the acceptance of the throne by William III following the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Meanwhile Holy Trinity church was erected in Gosport in 1696 as a convenience to the parishioners. This eventually became the parish church of Gosport but I can't, for the moment, find when that change occurred - perhaps not until the 20th century? Gosport does not appear to have been affected by the Reform Acts of the 1830s, and it was not until 1895 that the Gosport and Alverstoke Urban District was created. Gosport finally achieved the status of a borough in 1922 - surprisingly late in its history. When I was living in Alverstoke at the end of the War we still felt somewhat separate from, and superior to, the Gosportonians! Best wishes, Peter Gawn (Canada). ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jenny M Benson" <Genes@cedarbank81.fsnet.co.uk> To: <ENG-HAM-PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 9:14 AM Subject: St Thomas, Winchester > According to the IGI, a relative was baptised at St Thomas, Winchester > in 1856. > > A google to ascertain the address (and exact name if different) of this > Church gave me a St Thomas More RC Church in Winchester but I couldn't > find a present-day Anglican one. > > Hugh Wallis's IGI Batch Numbers web page refers to St Thomas and > generally appends "(RC)" to Catholic Churches. > > I am fairly certain this relative would be Anglican. Please can someone > confirm the name and - for bonus points - give me the address of this > Church. > > Additional question: if an extracted record cites merely "Alverstoke, > Hampshire, England" it presumably refers to the Parish Church. What is > the name (and address?) of that Church? > -- > Jenny M Benson > > ______________________________

In message <005401c56225$f1ea3fe0$4b54cf18@petergawn>, Peter Gawn <pgawn@dccnet.com> writes >Pigot's 1830 Directory lists on p. 246 eight parish churches in >Winchester, including St Thomas, in St Thomas street. The Directory >goes on to note that: "there is also ... a neat Roman Catholic chapel" >- perhaps St Thomas More? I don't know much about Winchester so shan't >comment any further. > >The parish church of Alverstoke is St Mary: it's located in Alverstoke >village, now part of Gosport. Many thanks to all who have answered my queries and especially to Peter for this particularly detailed and interesting response. -- Jenny M Benson