It is separated from the city centre by the districts sometimes known as Bevois Valley and New Town, in turn and to the south a riverside boardwalk allows pedestrian and bicycle access to the Mount Pleasant Industrial Estate and Northam.

[1] The area is named after the 12th-century St. Denys Priory, of minor wealth and size, of which little remains, aside from an archway of the original chapel spanning two back gardens,[2] and a counterpart moved to beside the rear wall of King John's Palace at Tudor House Museum in the city centre.

[5] An iron railway bridge crossing the River Itchen opened in 1866, connecting St Denys (then Portswood) Station to Netley Hospital, via Bitterne and Woolston.

The church was built in 1868, designed by George Gilbert Scott and is a listed building in the initial category;[7] the parish dates from the previous year, its patron is and remains the Bishop of Winchester.

The area is connected by a high-frequency timetable of buses to Southampton city centre, including its railway station, where the mainline continues to Weymouth and has dedicated parking bays in the surrounding streets for a Scooter-sharing system, currently provided by Voi [1] Between 2020 and 2023 the area received investment in measures to improve the safety and promote the use of Active Travel through the St Denys Active Travel Zone (ATZ) scheme.

St Denys Boat Club was founded in 1889 originally using Dyer Bros. Boatyard before relocating to its own premises to the north west of Cobden Bridge.