[2][3] The church was built because of the efforts of Father Robert William Radclyffe Dolling, an Irish Anglo-Catholic priest.

[8] Dolling's successor, Father Tremenheere, continued to decorate the interior until 1914 when another long-serving incumbent arrived.

[9] Tremenheere's successor, Father C. W. Coles, was to serve the parish through two world wars[10] until 1954 when the last service was held.

[6] For the next 40 years it became a naval store until the Traditional Anglican Communion took it over for a form of worship very similar[11] to that originally provided by Dolling.

It has been described as a magnificent building,[13] as having a sumptuous interior,[14] and the "Cathedral of the car parks" in Portsmouth's shopping district.