The St. Denys suburb name originates from that of the priory which was named after an important Catholic Saint. However, there is often cofusion as to which of the three St. Denys' the name relates. In fact, the Saints are often mistakenly merged into one!

A brief overview of the 2 Saints follows:

Pope St Dionysius held the highest Catholic office between 259 and 268 AD at a time when Emperor Valerian was fighting the Persians. The Emperor's distractions meant that for the first time in decades, Rome was able to practice religious freedom. He died in December 268 and his feast is celebrated on 26th December. St Dionysius is not to be confused with Dionysius of Alexandria, a Greek bishop and scholar of pagan and Christian learning who died on 17th November 265. Neither of the Saints were the true benefactors of the St. Denys name.

The true provider of the St. Denys area's name, St Denis was born in Italy and eventually rose to become Bishop of Paris. At a time when the Church of Gaul had been persecuted terribly by Emperor Decius, St. Denis was able to galvanise the local faith and helped it to flourish. His countless conversions and new methods of teaching incurred the wrath of the local pagans and after many tortures, Denis was eventually beheaded in December AD 258. He is often depicted now carrying his own head and is the patron Saint of Paris. St Denis' memorial day - which has been celebrated with a feast for over 1200 years - is 9th October. Perhaps this is a day for St. Denys residents to celebrate?!

After his execution in the area of Paris known as Montmartre (the Mount of Martyrs), St. Denis' remains were buried in the north of Paris in a area now occupied by Saint-Denis Cathedral. After St. Denis' burial a basillica was built around his grave and from this, a monastry and abbey developed around the site. In the 12th Century, monks from the monastry travelled over to the area of Southampton we now know as St. Denys to establish the Priory. They also established a settlement in the Chilworth area, which is why there is now a St. Denys Church there as well.

The Augustinian Priory was founded during the reign of King Henry I around 1124 and became very wealthy when presented with the forested area of Portswood by Richard I in 1189. By 1536, the Priory had been dissolved and was in a terrible state having lost the majority of its wealth.

St Denys is now very much part of city life and is densely poulated and full of houses. It is hard to believe that 900 years ago, the area was simply the grazing ground of the cattle belonging to the Priory monks!

All that remains of the Priory now is an arch to be found in the gardens of two houses on Priory Avenue, although the authenticity of this has been questioned. There is also another arch which has relocated to the Tudor House museum in Southampton.

In 1956, a captured shark was photographed outside the Dyer Brothers boatyard and stories of sharks swimming in The Itchen were used to scare local children for years! The likelihood is that the 2m fish was caught in the Solent and then carried up the river by mischievous local residents!

During the Second World War, St. Denys was bombed heavily due to its proximity to the main London train line and the fact that fruit and vegetables were gathered and packaged locally to be sent to troops based nearby from St. Denys train station.

In 1940, a train bound for London crashed just outside of St. Denys Station. 2 bombs had been dropped by a German aircraft and the train was not able to stop in time. The track was damaged but fortunately nobody was hurt, however, the line did remain closed for 4 days which caused untold disruption.