Church Of St Barnabus

The Church of St Barnabas is a church built between 1882 and 1883, with carving of the capitals completed in 1923. It was designed by J.L. Pearson and is constructed in the Early English style using knapped flint with red brick and Bath stone dressings, topped with clay tiled roofs featuring decorative ridge tiles.

The church has a cruciform plan. The apsidal ended chancel faces onto Sackville Road, with north and south transepts, a northeast organ bay and vestry, and a southeast Lady Chapel. The four-bay aisled nave has a blind clerestory. A gabled porch is located in the northeast corner onto Coleridge Street. The main entrance is now in the southwest corner from Byron Street, where a tower was originally planned but never built; a lead covered fleche with a bell sits over the crossing.

Inside, the originally exposed red brick has been white-washed. The undivided nave and chancel feature a crownpost open rafter roof, while the aisles are rendered and cross-vaulted. The sanctuary has a marble tessera pavement. The interior includes a handsome square alabaster font on red marble columns, an oak pulpit, and choir stalls, all designed by Pearson, the latter dating from 1893. Panelling in the apse features carved figures of saints added in 1902. A large and substantial reredos by G.F. Bodley of Bodley and Garner was erected in 1907, the year of the architect's death. The organ by J.C. Bishop and Son, originally purchased from St George’s Chapel, Albemarle Street, London in 1904, has since been rebuilt and enlarged. A gilded metal rood screen was added in the early 20th century.

The Lady Chapel contains an unusual altar table of gilded black lacquer, with clustered column legs and an oak leaf decorated entablature, dating from the early 20th century. There is a wooden eagle lecturn, gifted in 1927, along with significant stained glass, including five lancets in the chancel by Clayton and Bell. The striking west window, created in 1923, serves as a memorial to those who died in the First World War. The church also houses three oil paintings on canvas, including an early 19th-century version of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, measuring 10 feet by 17 feet.

A similar church design by Pearson was proposed for St Mathews, Silverhill, St Leonards in 1884, and was subsequently built according to his plans, including a tower that was omitted from the St Barnabas design.