Church Of St Barnabas

The Church of St. Barnabas is a parish church dating from 1867-8, designed by Johnson and Hicks. The north aisle was heightened and enlarged in 1881-2 by A.C. Hicks, and the chancel was decorated in 1888, likely by W.S. Hicks. The church is constructed of polychrome brick with buff, red, and purple bands, diapers, and a graduated green slate roof. It is built in the Early English and Decorated styles.

The church consists of an aisled nave with a south porch, a chancel, and north vestries. It features a continuous moulded plinth and sill band, and buttressed bay divisions. The west front has a 3-light pointed window and a gabled bellcote with two low openings. The south aisle has lancet windows on its returns and grouped two- and three-light lancets on the south side. The tall north aisle has square-headed three-light windows and a moulded parapet on the north side, and a similar four-light window and stepped parapet on its west return. The tall two-bay chancel has two-light pointed windows on the south and a three-light window on the angle-buttressed east end. The gabled porch has a moulded two-order pointed archway with colonnettes, topped with a carved stone Christ in a mandorla. The gabled choir vestry and flat-roofed Vicar’s vestry both have mullioned windows; the Vicar's vestry has a stepped moulded parapet and three conjoined octagonal stacks.

The interior is richly decorated with polychrome brick and contemporary fittings. The nave has three bays of hollow-chamfered pointed stone arcades supported by squat cylindrical piers with moulded bases and stiff-leaf capitals. A circular stone font at the west has a bowl carved with scenes from the New Testament. An arcaded stone pulpit is also present. A large white marble Angel of Victory, sculpted by Waldo Storey in 1894, commemorates the 3rd and 4th Earls of Durham. The chancel features a double-chamfered arch on stiff-leaf corbels, two steps leading to the sanctuary with an encaustic-tiled floor, an elaborate rood screen, panelling, a reredos, and mural decoration. A brass altar rail with scrolled supports and a compartmented barrel-vaulted ceiling with moulded ribs and painted floral panels are also notable. South windows have moulded rear-arches with colonnettes. The church includes a contemporary organ and choir stalls. Stained glass by Morris and Co. commemorates Sara Reynolds in the east end of the south aisle (1919) and depicts David and Goliath in the west end of the south aisle (1922).