| St. Barnabas' Church, Erdington | |
St. Barnabas' Church, Erdington
|
|
| Denomination | Church of England |
|---|---|
| Churchmanship | Broad Church |
| Website | www.stbarnabaserdington.org.uk |
| History | |
| Dedication | St. Barnabas |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Erdington |
| Diocese | Birmingham |
| Province | Canterbury |
| Clergy | |
| Rector | Revd Freda Evans |
St. Barnabas' Church is the parish church of Erdington, in the north of Birmingham, England.
Contents |
It is located on the High Street, in the main shopping centre area of Erdington, and is a Grade II listed building.[1] The vicar is the Reverend Freda Evans, inducted on June 19, 2008.[2]
The church was built as a chapel of ease between 1822-23 to a design by Thomas Rickman.[3][4] The church was famous for its sixteen stained glass windows depicting scenes of the life of Jesus and stories from the scriptures, including the Raising of Lazarus, The Resurrection, The Good Samaritan and St Paul and St Barnabas,[5] which were also designed by Thomas Rickman.[6] It was consecrated on July 23, 1824.[7] The church was built by the Commissioners at a cost of £5,000, (£360,000 as of 2012),[8] £1,000 of which was collected through public donations.[9] In 1858, a district chapelry was assigned to the church.[10]
On the morning of 4 October 2007, the building was severely damaged by fire. West Midlands Fire Service were called to a fire at the church at 6am. Approximately 75 firefighters and 15 engines attended the fire.[11] The roof and all but one of the stained glass windows were completely destroyed, though the clock and bell tower and walls remain intact.[12] The Rt Revd. David Urquhart, Bishop of Birmingham, stated he was determined to rebuild the church.[13] It is believed that the fire was caused by arsonists.[5]
St Barnabas Church is currently operating from other venues in Erdington - St. Barnabas Primary School, Sunday mornings at 10.00am with an 8.30am twice a month at 26 Church Road and Wednesday mornings, 10.30am at Six Ways Baptist Church.
St Barnabas has a ring of eight bells. They are currently silent during the rebuilding phase, but ringing will resume on completion.
The clocks hourly chimes will also be reinstated.
Rebuilding of the church started in January 2011 and completion is scheduled for the Summer of 2012. The building work is being undertaken by Linfords who also performed the cleanup of the fire damage in late 2007 and early 2008.