Place:St. Mary Extra, Hampshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of St. Mary Extra' or Weston from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"MARY-EXTRA (ST.), or WESTON, a parish and a subdistrict in South Stoneham [registration] district, Hants. The parish lies on the river Itchin and on the Southwestern railway, adjacent to Southampton; and contains the places called Weston, Woolston, Itchenor, and Newtown. Post town: Southampton. Acres: 2,980; of which 940 are water. Real property: £31,526. Population in 1851: 1,446; in 1861: 2,468. Houses: 463. The increase of population arose from the employment afforded to artizans and others in Southampton. The living is a [perpetual] curacy in the diocese of Winchester. Value: £170. Patron: Mrs. W. L. Davies. The church is called Jesus chapel; and there are churches also in Weston, Woolston, and Newtown."

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

St. Mary Extra was so named because its church was built in 1618 as a chapelry (the Jesus Chapel) to the church of Southampton St. Mary, located on the other side of the River Itchen. (Southampton lies between two rivers, the Test on the west, and the smaller but significant Itchen on the east.) Construction of Jesus Chapel saved parishioners from a rough crossing over the Itchen to Southampton or a long journey to the neighbouring churches at Hound, Botley or South Stoneham.

St. Mary Extra was also the location of a manor house, Peartree House, built by 1617, then altered in the late eighteenth century. The main village of St. Mary Extra is now known as Peartree Green. The parish also contained the village Itchen Ferry Village which no longer exists. St. Mary Extra became part of Itchen Urban District in 1898, along with the civil parish of Sholing. This urban district remained until 1920 when it was absorbed into Southampton itself. (Source: A Vision of Britain through Time and maps described below.)

Peartree House was once home to General Shrapnel inventor of the Shrapnel shell. Peartree Green is now part of Southampton District (or the City of Southampton).

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Peartree Green.

Weston (Southampton)

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Weston (Southampton) is a small suburb on the southeastern side of Southampton in Hampshire, predominantly built on the Weston Grove Estate formerly owned by the Chamberlayne family. It also includes the area that was previously the Barnfield Estate. Weston includes part of Mayfield Park, which was previously the Mayfield Estate. Weston is bounded by Woolston, Sholing, Netley and Southampton Water.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 3, chapter on St. Mary Extra.
• GENUKI has a list of archive holders in Hampshire including the Hampshire Record Office, various museums in Portsmouth and Southhampton, the Isle of Wight Record Office and Archives.
• The Hampshire Online Parish Clerk project has a large collection of transcriptions from Parish Registers across Hampshire.
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 together with tables listing the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered, along with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Do respect the copyright on this material.
• The three-storey City Museum in Winchester covers the Iron Age and Roman periods, the Middle Ages, and the Victorian period.
• Volumes in The Victoria County History Series are available for Hampshire through British History Online. There are three volumes and the county is covered by parishes within the old divisions of "hundreds".

A collection of maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrating the English county of Hampshire over the period 1832-1932 (the last two are expandible):

• The Hundreds of Hampshire, a map from HMSO Boundary Commissioners, dated 1832
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts as of 1900, a map from the Ordnance Survey
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts after the alterations of 1932, a map from the Ordnance Survey

• A group of maps of the post-1974 municipal districts or boroughs of Hampshire on Wikipedia Commons