Church of St Barnabas

Church of St Barnabas

The Church of St Barnabas is an Anglican parish church in Queen Camel, built in the 14th and early 15th centuries, with restoration undertaken in 1887, possibly by J L Pearson. The church is constructed of grey lias stone cut and squared, with Ham stone dressings. The roof is covered with plain clay tiles over the chancel, which features a stepped coped east gable, while elsewhere sheet lead parapets are used, with a gable behind the parapet at the nave east end.

The church is arranged on a four-cell plan comprising a two-bay chancel, a four-bay nave with side aisles, and ancillary spaces including a north-east organ chamber and vestry, a south portico, and a west tower.

The chancel features a plinth and eaves course with gargoyles, angled corner buttresses, and an east window of tall three-light 15th-century tracery with transome and headstop label. A small statue sits in a recess above this window. The north and south walls have matching windows, with a moulded pointed arched doorway between them to the south. The organ chamber to the north has a similar north window, possibly reused, and a small cusped lancet to the east. A small stair turret in the north-east corner has a stepped stone roof and crocketed finial.

The north aisle has a plinth, eaves string, and plain parapet with bay buttresses. Its four-light flat arched windows have square labels, except for the westernmost window which follows a 14th-century pattern with arched curl-stop label. The south aisle is similar, though it has a larger west window and a two-light window to the south-east bay, possibly dating to the 19th century. Adjoining this last window is a simple arched doorway set within an open Tuscan portico with full plain entablature and pediment, probably of late 18th-century date. The east window is a four-light flat arched window in moulded recesses.

The nave features a clerestory with parapet and a sundial on the south side. Its windows are three-light examples dating to around 1400, set in shallow recesses without labels.

The tower is tall and comprises five stages. It has a double plinth, string courses, corner gargoyles, and a battlemented parapet. Pairs of corner buttresses rise to full height, ending in pinnacles. A full-height octagonal stair turret with slit windows sits to the north-west. The west doorway is moulded and pointed-arched, set under an arched label. Above this is a three-light 15th-century window in a hollow-chamfered recess that protrudes into stage two, with the string serving as a label. A statue by Charles Hopkins, installed in 1971, occupies a canopied niche on the west face at stage two. Stage three has a two-light window matching that below. Stage four features a clockface to the west and a single cusped light to the east. Stage five has two-light windows on each face.

The interior contains much medieval work. The chancel has a late 15th-century moulded rib and panel roof with exposed rafters and a variety of bosses, carved wallplate, and angel corbels. The east window has a headstop label. A wide panelled 15th-century chancel arch is fitted with a late 15th-century traceried oak screen. The sedilia and piscina date to the 15th century and are canopied.

The nave was raised around 1400. Its arcades are earlier, featuring octagonal bell-cap columns with differences between north and south, and the west bays have a shorter span. A carved and traceried kingpost roof with drops on corbel brackets, moulded purlins and sub-pinnacles with bosses covers the nave. Side aisles have matching low-pitch roofs. A tall wave-mould tower arch with corbels and a flashing table of the earlier roof are visible. A former east window to the north aisle remains, unglazed.

19th-century chancel fittings may be by Pearson. The nave and aisle pews incorporate 15th-century bench ends. A late 15th-century timber pulpit has moulded ogee canopies over statues, with foliage, top mould, and panelled base shaft. A carved wood eagle lectern, donated in 1889, stands in the church. The font dates to around 1400 and is octagonal, featuring double quatrefoil panels, a panelled underbowl and shaft, and panelled supports with canopied figures set across the corners. Portions of a 17th-century pew are used as a screen to the north aisle, which also contains a framed Italian brocade.

Monuments include a 14th-century cusped tomb niche in the south aisle and a nearby black and white marble plaque to Humphry Mildmay, who died in 1690, with Corinthian dressings and a cartouche of arms. A marble monument to Edith Mildmay, who died in 1772, features Ionic dressings. Two hatchments of the Mildmay family—the lords of the manor from Hazlegrove House—are displayed in the tower space. A late 20th-century glazed porch was added at the west end.

The church is associated with Cleeve Abbey, with which it shares architectural similarities. The first recorded rector dates to 1317.