St Barnabas Church, Oxford
| St Barnabas | |
|---|---|
| St Barnabas Church | |
|
View of St Barnabas Church and its campanile. | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Churchmanship | Anglo-Catholic |
| Website | www.sbarnabas.org.uk |
| History | |
| Founder(s) | Thomas Combe and Martha Combe[1] |
| Dedication | St Barnabas |
| Consecrated | 1869 |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Sir Arthur Blomfield |
| Style | Victorian, Romanesque, Italianate |
| Administration | |
| Diocese | Oxford |
| Clergy | |
| Vicar(s) | Fr Jonathan Beswick |
St Barnabas Church is a Church of England parish church in Jericho, central Oxford, England, located close to Oxford Canal.[2][3]
History
The parish was formed from that of St Paul, Oxford, in 1869; St Paul's was in turn formed from parts of the parishes of St Thomas and St Giles. The church was founded by Thomas Combe (1796–1872), Superintendent of the Oxford University Press close to the church, and his wife Martha[4] (1806–1893), now commemorated by a blue plaque installed by the Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board.[1] They were followers of the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian movement). The architect was Sir Arthur Blomfield, a son of the Bishop of London, who had previously designed the chapel for the Radcliffe Infirmary. The first Parish Priest was Fr Montague Noel, SSC. The style is that of a Romanesque basilica. St Barnabas has a distinctive square tower, in the form of an Italianate campanile, that is visible from the surrounding area. The church was built on land donated by the local merchant and former Oxford mayor William Ward.[5] It was consecrated in 1869 by Bishop Wilberforce of Oxford and the campanile was completed in 1872. It has a ring of ten, distinctive, tubular bells, and the hours and quarters are sounded on them. Several histories of the church and/or parish have been written over the years (Arthur Tilney Bassett, Roger Dixey, Anne Abley and Richard Whitlock). St Barnabas also features in a wide range of literature, from Thomas Hardy through to PD James.
The poet John Betjeman wrote a poem about St Barnabas Church.[3][6]
Today
The church maintains its Anglo-Catholic traditions, remaining rooted in the life of the local parish, and enjoying close connections with the Jericho Community Association, the Jericho Wharf Trust and St Barnabas Primary School. A parish magazine, Jericho Matters, is produced quarterly and distributed to all of the households in Jericho. A local community choir, the Jericho Singers, rehearses in St Barnabas each week. The original church choir were sacked by the parish priest at the end of the summer break in 2015.
In September 2015 the parish was united with the neighbouring parish of St Thomas the Martyr, to form the new parish of St Barnabas and St Paul, with St Thomas the Martyr, Oxford. St Barnabas is the parish church and St Thomas is the chapel of ease. The first vicar of the new parish is Fr Jonathan Beswick, SSC.[7]
Gallery
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St Barnabas Church from the Oxford Canal in Jericho.
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View of the campanile from the northwest across the Oxford Canal.
References
- 1 2 Warr, Elizabeth Jean (2011). The Oxford Plaque Guide. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. pp. 39–41. ISBN 978-0-7524-5687-4. External link in
|publisher=(help) - ↑ Hibbert, Christopher, ed. (1988). "St Barnabas, Church of". The Encyclopaedia of Oxford. Macmillan. p. 378–379. ISBN 0-333-39917-X.
- 1 2 "St Barnabas, Oxford". A Church Near You. The Church of England. 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2012. External link in
|work=(help) - ↑ History, St Barnabas Church.
- ↑ William Ward: Mayor of Oxford 1851/2 and 1861/2, Mayors of Oxford.
- ↑ "St Barnabas Church". Jericho Living Heretage Trust. Retrieved 11 December 2012. External link in
|publisher=(help) - ↑ Contact details, St Barnabas Church.
Further reading
- Bassett, Arthur Tilney (1919) S. Barnabas', Oxford: a record of fifty years. London: A. R. Mowbray
- Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 289–291. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to St Barnabas' Church, Oxford. |
Coordinates: 51°45′28″N 1°16′11″W / 51.757864°N 1.269745°W