St Barnabas Church is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

located in Stroud Road,

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It was built in 1938–40 and obtained its Grade II status on 9 March 1982. The church's denomination is the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

History

As the population of the Tuffley area expanded in the early 20th century, the “Tuffley Conventional District” was formed in 1907, mostly from the Parish of St Paul's but also including parts of Matson and Hempstead. After the Tuffley School moved to its new building on Calton Road, its former building, built in 1881, was consecrated as a church and dedicated to Saint

Barnabas Barnabas (; ; ), born Joseph () or Joses (), was according to tradition an early Christians, Christian, one of the prominent Disciple (Christianity), Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Cypriot Jews, Cyprio ...

, who had accompanied Saint Paul. It had become overcrowded by

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, but postwar costs precluded the construction of a permanent church. In 1922, a large wooden building was constructed next to the old school, which became the temporary church of St Barnabas. This building is still present today and is used for various church activities. In 1930, St Barnabas’ became its own independent parish, and its first vicar, Rev. Thomas W. Lambert, set about fundraising for a permanent church. The stone church standing today was designed by

Nugent Cachemaille-Day Nugent Francis Cachemaille-Day (1896–1976), often referred to as NF Cachemaille-Day, was an English architect who designed some of the most "revolutionary" 20th-century churches in the country. His Church of St Nicholas, Burnage has been c ...

and built in 1938-1940. It is built in the traditional form with some

Gothic Revival architecture Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

, with the main structure provided by a reinforced concrete frame. It replaced not only the temporary church but St Aldate Church as well. The choir vestry suffered a fire in June 1997. A programme of repair and refurbishment was completed in June 2002, using a combination of parishioner funds, gifts from local organisations, and a major grant from English Heritage,

Architecture

The church is made from C20 concrete, and constructed in the traditional form with some Gothic elements around the windows. The style was influenced by the

Liturgical Movement The Liturgical Movement was a 19th-century and 20th-century movement of scholarship for the reform of worship. It began in the Catholic Church and spread to many other Christian churches including the Anglican Communion, Lutheran and some other Pro ...

, and both traditional and modern materials were used. To link new with old, stones from

Gloucester Cathedral Gloucester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity and formerly St Peter's Abbey, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the River Severn. It originated with the establishme ...

and

Tewkesbury Abbey The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tewkesbury, commonly known as Tewkesbury Abbey, is located in the town of Tewkesbury in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England. A former Benedictine monastery, it is now a parish church. Conside ...

were built into the east wall, by the high altar. The construction itself includes reinforced frames, with external brick walls, concrete window frames, and a flat roof. There is a single belfry tower on the South-West side, with a concrete

crucifix A crucifix (from the Latin meaning '(one) fixed to a cross') is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the (Latin for 'body'). The cru ...

on top. The east and west sides of the tower have supporting

corbels In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a bearing weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applie ...

, and there are two windows on each of the four sides.

Internal layout

The entrance to the building is on the northwest side and leads into a porch. This then leads to the largest part of the church which is a long rectangular

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

. The chapel is located on the north side of the building, and

vestries A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spent nearly one-fi ...

are on the east. At the south end of the building is the

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

with the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

and

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

, above this is the organ loft which is inside the belfry tower.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Barnabas Church, Gloucester Church of England church buildings in Gloucester Churches completed in 1940 1940 establishments in England Nugent Cachemaille-Day buildings