Church of St Barnabas and boundary walls

Church of St Barnabas and boundary walls

An Anglican parish church dating from 1938–9, designed by N F Cachemaille-Day (1896–1976) for the Gloucester Church Extension Society. The church combines 20th-century construction methods with traditional form, employing minimal Gothic detailing.

The building is constructed with a reinforced concrete frame, external wall faces and internal infill panels of pale buff handmade brick, and concrete window frames. The roof is a flat concrete slab with composition covering. The chancel floor is Granolithic, while the nave has herringbone-laid blond woodblocks.

The plan consists of a long rectangular nave with a short bay at each end and four wider intermediate bays (a 1:4:1 pattern), entered through a narthex to the west. A taller two-bay chancel returns at the east end to provide access to vestries. The wider north aisle is fitted as a chapel. The south transept forms the base of a short belfry tower. At the junction of nave and tower, a low projecting stair turret with canted angles provides access to the pulpit and organ loft.

Externally, the very lofty flat-roofed building sits on a high plinth, with the main body between a low west narthex and eastern vestries, each rising to plinth height. On both sides of the nave and chancel, the bays are defined by slender triangular projections rising to full height, incorporated into a shallow parapet decorated with blind fret over the nave and a taller parapet with pierced openings in panels over the chancel. To both sides of the nave in each of the four wider bays is a tall, very narrow window with attenuated Gothic tracery high up under the flat head. On both sides of the chancel in each bay is a similar window; the east wall has a closely-set group of five similar windows, all in frames carried up into the parapet and enclosing decorative carved panels. A short tower above the transept rises only slightly above roof height, surmounted by a tall concrete cross. It has a central canopied niche supported on a corbel and two-light windows with panels above on each side. The east and west sides of the tower have central triangular projections on corbels flanked by similar two-light windows. At the south-west corner is the low projected stair turret with canted angles. The low flat-roofed narthex has doorways with elliptical arched heads on its west and south sides. Vestries to the south-east corner and east have lancet windows, one to each bay, as does the chapel in the low flat-roofed north aisle, which is continuous with the vestries and runs along the north side of the chancel.

Internally, the church is austere and dramatic. The long, high rectangular nave has a short bay at each end and four wider bays between. Entry is through the low south door of the west narthex, which contains doors to kitchen, lavatories and other facilities. All doors in the church are set under elliptical arches. The nave and chancel are very lofty; the nave roof has intersecting concrete beams supported by curved braces to canted wall piers articulating the bay structure, while the chancel roof, though superficially similar, is supported by intersecting concrete arches. Both give the appearance of vaulted ceilings. A pair of similar piers creates the impression of a chancel arch. The narrow chancel has an organ gallery to the south above a low ambulatory. To the west of the ambulatory is a semi-circular reeded timber pulpit dating from 1938–40, set against the nave wall and hanging at first-floor level, accessed by the stair in the turret which also serves the organ gallery. To the north, the low aisle houses the Lady Chapel with glazed arcades. The chancel is set up two steps. The east wall is articulated by layered arched recesses giving the impression of a reredos. The interior is lit by moulded wall-mounted uplighters from the 1980s.

Principal fittings include an octagonal stone font dating from the 19th century, brought to St Barnabas from the Church of St Mary in Kempley, Gloucestershire, with a broad timber font cover from 1938–40. The chancel stalls, also from 1938–40, are of timber and lead to twin ambos (reading desks), matching the pulpit. The east window contains stained glass by Christopher Webb (1886–1966), dating from 1940. The Lady Chapel contains stained glass resited from the temporary Church of St Barnabas.

The plot is bounded on two sides by low walls of matching pale buff brick with pitched coping.