History
At least five churches served the western suburb of Winchester in the 12th century, perhap originally serving small rural settlements which were later incorporated into Winchester's suburbs. St. Paul's stands close to the site of the medieval church of St. Anastasius, which fell into decay after the Black Death in the 14th century - as did St. Matthew's Wyke, the Parish Church, which was rebuilt in the 15th century (as our present day St. Matthew's church, Weeke).
Increasing population in the 19th century meant that another church was needed. This was designed by John Colston and the chancel was built between 1870 and 1872. In 1872 the then Bishop of Winchester consecrated the Chancel, the east end of St. Paul's.
Shortage of funds held up completion of the nave and transepts until 1888, and in 1902 the north aisle was created. The south aisle and porch were finished in 1910. The originally planned tower in the designs for 1872 is unlikely to materialise.
The Parish of Weeke (as Wyke became known) continued to grow and, with the development of a new housing estate in Weeke after the Second World War, St. Barnabas was built in 1967. For years, Weeke was the largest parish in Winchester.
In 1972, Weeke celebrated the 100th Anniversary of St. Paul's and the church was rededicated to include the name of St. Anastasius, recalling the earlier church on this site - although no remains of that church remain above ground. In 1988 the parish was divided into two new parishes: St. Barnabas in the north-west and St. Matthew in the south-east.
Also in 1972, some exploratory excavation was done on the St. Paul's site in advance of the construction of an extension to the church hall, north of the existing church. Evidence of medieval graves was discovered, together with minor archaeological finds. The excavation was documented by Mr. K Qualmann and the finds deposited with the Winchester Museum.
Within the church, the seating in the body of the church was always individual chairs, not pews. The pipe organ dates from the 1890's. A formerly existing reredos has been removed and the sanctuary was repaved.
Extensive sgraffito was applied round the chancel in 1904 by the Hampshire artist Heywood Sumner(1853-1940), in the Arts and Crafts style. Sumner rejected the elitism of the William Morris clique and engaged in projects to bring Arts and Crafts within the experience of the general public.
Sumner described sgraffito as: "Decoration scratched or inscribed on plaster or potter's clay while still soft, and for beauty of effect depends either solely upon lines thus incised according to design, with the resulting contrast of surfaces; or partly upon such lines and contrast, and partly upon an under-coat of colour revealed by the incisions". Sadly, this was plastered over in 1962 but more recently a small area on the south wall of the chancel has been revealed.
The Nave Altar was introduced in 1979. In 2005, the inner main doors were replaced with the present glazed oak doors, hand-made by Mr. Morris Smith.