Visiting Shanklin

St Saviours church is an Anglican church within the Portsmouth diocese and is of Anglo-Catholic tradition. St Saviours is a member of ‘The Society’ under the patronage of St Wilfred & St Hilda. The Bishop of Portsmouth is patron of the parish with episcopal oversight given by the Bishop of Richborough.

St Saviours stands along side the clifftop path near the cliff lift at the southern end of Shanklin.

It was designed by Thomas Hellyer of Ryde. The foundation stone was laid on Ascension Day in 1867. The first phase of the building – nave, chancel vestry and organ chamber was consecrated by Bishop Ryan, formerly the first Bishop of Mauritius, on May 7th 1869.

The south aisle and porch were added in 1871, the north aisle and church hall five years later. To complete the church the tower and spire were added in 1887, the eight bells manufactured by Mears & Stainbank of Whitechapel were installed in 1888, extensive restoration work was carried out on the bells in 2002.

Most of the church is built out of local sandstone which has not worn well on this exposed site on the cliff. Throughout its history St Saviours has been faced with fabric problems beyond its resources!

Car parking for a few cars is available for your visit within the church confines but it is far better to park in the nearby roads where there is usually plenty of room to stay for a short visit, and it’s free to park!

Access to the ringing chamber is via a spiral stone stairway accessed at the inside north-west door of the church.

It is not recommended to arrange a lunch stop here as the town in summer can get very congested as does the beach area. If planning a picnic stop then a park close by would be an ideal place to wander to, however we cannot guarantee the weather, even on this usually very sunny isle! Shanklin usually is near the top of the annual list for the sunshine record!

Shanklin, St. Saviour’s have their own website here.

See Shanklin Bells