St Barnabas' Church, Erdington

St. Barnabas' Church is a Church of England parish church in Erdington in the north of Birmingham, England.

St. Barnabas' Church, Erdington
St. Barnabas' Church, Erdington after rebuilding
DenominationChurch of England
ChurchmanshipBroad Church
Websitewww.stbarnabaserdington.org.uk
History
DedicationSt. Barnabas
Administration
ParishErdington
DioceseBirmingham
ProvinceCanterbury
Clergy
RectorRevd Freda Evans

Background

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 19 June 2008.[2]

History

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, (equivalent to £440,000 in 2019),[8] £1,000 of which was collected through public donations.[9] In 1858, a district chapelry was assigned to the church.[10]

In 1908 the parish founded a Mission Room in Stockland Green which in 1920 was dedicated to St Mark. In a new church was built called St Mark's Church, Stockland Green and a parish assigned out of All Saints' Church, Gravelly Hill.

Fire
St. Barnabas' Church, the day following the fire

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]

Tower Bells

St Barnabas has a ring of eight bells.

Rebuild

Rebuilding of the church started in January 2011 and completed in 2012. The building work was undertaken by Linfords who also performed the cleanup of the fire damage in late 2007 and early 2008. The building was re-dedicated in December 2012 by the Bishop of Birmingham.

Churchyard

The churchyard contains scattered war graves of 66 service personnel, 29 of World War I and 37 of World War II. A Screen Wall memorial lists those buried in graves in the old ground which could not be individually marked.[14]

Notable clergy
  • Jeremy Sheehy, later Principal of St Stephen's House, Oxford, served his curacy here from 1981 to 1983
  • Rodney Whiteman, later Archdeacon of Bodmin and of Cornwall, served as vicar from 1979 to 1989

See also

References
  1. Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1076299)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
  2. "Erdington Team Ministry". 2008-06-19. Archived from the original on 2008-06-11. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
  3. John Betjeman (1959). An American's Guide to English Parish Churches. McDowell, Obolensky.
  4. A. W. Skempton; Institution of Civil Engineers Staff (2002). A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland. Thomas Telford.
  5. "Arson suspected as blaze wrecks church".Birmingham Post. 5 October 2007
  6. News story in Birmingham Mail, 4 October 2007
  7. Walter Powell; Herbert Maurice Cashmore (1918). A Catalogue of the Birmingham Collection. Cornish Brothers Ltd.
  8. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  9. Francis White (1850). History, gazetteer, and directory, of Warwickshire. F. White.
  10. London Gazette (1860). Bulletins and Other State Intelligence.
  11. Erdington Team Ministry: Saint Barnabas Archived 2008-06-11 at the Wayback Machine
  12. BBC News story about fire
  13. Birmingham Mail on-line news and video footage
  14. CWGC Cemetery Report.

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