[5] Though Portsmouth was generally seen to be founded in 1181 by Jean of Gisors,[6] in 1164, the Norman lord of the manor, Baldwin de Portsea, informed Henry de Blois, the Bishop of Winchester, that he was giving the church of St. Mary, together with some land, cattle, sheep and hogs to the prior and canons of Southwick Priory.

[3] This means there was already a church on the site at the time, and Domesday Book records 31 families lived in what is now modern-day Buckland, Copnor, and Fratton.

[3][8] The new church was built in 1843 at a cost of £5,000[8] (equivalent to £302,000 in 2017[9]) and was designed in the Early English Gothic style by Thomas Ellis Owen.

[3] This church did not last until even the end of the century, for although it was lacking both in light and ventilation, it was smaller than the newly built Roman Catholic cathedral and so it was demolished in 1887.

[8] The foundation stone was laid by Victoria, Princess Royal, on 9 August 1887,[3] and a plaque near the entrance marks this event.

[11] On 25 August 1894, the church was broken into and set alight by crumpling the altar cloth, pouring spirits nearby and turning on the gas.

St Mary's was put forward as a possible pro-cathedral, but it was felt that due to its commitment to the many mission churches in the area, it was unsuitable.

The project involved erecting one of the largest suspended scaffolds in the world at the time, replacing windows and metalwork, renovating stonework, and repainting the clock face.

[19] The church was designed in the Neo-Perpendicular Gothic style and features a west tower, an aisled nave of six bays, north and south porches, chancel, and lady chapel.

[3] The chief feature of the church is the landmark west tower, built of four stages, topped by tall corner pinnacles.

[4] The nave has 6 paired 2-light Perpendicular style clerestory windows, flanking stepped pilasters each rising to a crocketed pinnacle.

At the junction of the nave with chancel is an octagonal stairs access turret with at top a Tudor type flat arch and traceried window to each face.

Above the tower arch is a three-light stone window frame, the middle panel of which provides views of the church from the ringing chamber behind it.

[12] The organ was consecrated on 31 October 1892, where the choir sang the anthem “Sing, O heaven, and be Joyful, O Earth!”, and the sermon was preached by the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Rev'd Anthony Thorold.

In 1961, the new vicar, Freddy Temple, began a vigorous fundraising campaign to raise funds for the organ, which by this time was approaching its 70th anniversary.

Temple enlisted the help of several famous architectural historians and musicians including Douglas Fox and John Betjeman.

The parish was unable to raise the required amount of money, even with the help Temple enlisted, so the scope of the project was reduced to include only dismantling, cleaning and reassembling the pipework, and a new blowing plant, which cost £7,300.

[12] In 1981, George Martin and Partners, a local firm, undertook further work on the organ, which involved lowering the pitch of the entire instrument.

[27] Due to the cavernous size of the building, thirteen amplifiers have been installed to project the sound of the Viscount organ across the church.

The tenor bell weighed approximately 16 long hundredweight (810 kilograms) and was in the key of E.[30] The "new" ring of eight were first rung on the consecration day, 10 October 1889, by a specially selected band of ringers from across the Diocese of Winchester.

This caused issues, not just because of the sheer length of "elasticated" rope, but also significant tower movement from the bells being hung so high in it.

The Bell News records in the 26 October 1889 issue that the band were forced to give up their peal attempt due to "sheer exhaustion".

It become clear neither the fittings nor frame were able to carry on, and so the tower was closed to all ringing until the financial situation presented itself to allow the bells to be restored.

Ringers from across the South East attended, including from Brighton, Christchurch (at the time in Hampshire, now in Dorset), Crawley, Guildford, Fareham, and the Isle of Wight, amongst other places.

The merits of the restoration were immediately obvious, the sound and 'go' of the new bells was described in The Ringing World as "nothing short of excellent" and "amongst the finest peals of eight in existence".

[1] Moving the bell frame down a stage had enabled tower sway to be reduced, and the rope length to be considerably lessened.