[4] By the early 19th century, as seaside towns became fashionable for polite society, an area known as Angleseyville was developed by the speculator Robert Cruikshank, and named in honour of the Marquis of Anglesey.

This new area was to contain a racecourse, chapel, baths and pumphouse, and genteel gardens, a hotel, and fine townhouses emulating the grand Georgian crescents of the day but Cruikshank speculated on an architect who was only 21 and somewhat untested.

Although the hotel was erected first, such that purchasers could see what would be built, the scheme overall was not a financial success, and was therefore only partially completed.

Nonetheless, its small burial plot still contains 261 known burials, including many with high society connections: nine admirals, eight generals, two baronets, and various members of the Churchill, Nelson, Jellicoe, Walpole and Bonham-Carter[n 2] families (and which started being used as a graveyard even before the chapel's dedication).

[6] Several of Palmerston's Follies are sited within the parish, including Fort Gilkicker, a 19th-century coastal battery fort, which is located at the eastern end of Stokes Bay, where it sits across a wide curved natural headland (promontory) taken up by Gosport and Stokes Bay Golf Club.

The original church was entirely replaced by the present structure, as designed by Henry Woodyer in the decorated style, when rebuilt 1863–85: its chancel was completed in 1865, and extends to three bays, two having arches to the north and south chapels; its wide nave by Woodyer was constructed in 1885 and has five arches and a south porch.