Church of St Barnabas Oxford, England

Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

612/4/23 CARDIGAN STREET 612/24/23 CHURCH OF ST BARNABAS 29-JAN-68

I 1868-9 by Arthur Blomfield. Campanile 1872 (reroofed with a lower pitched roof 1893). Morning chapel (now Lady Chapel) and N aisle erected 1888-9.

MATERIALS: Rubble walls, cement rendered. Concrete used in parts, e.g. lintels and sills. Brick details for ornamental bands, arch heads and other details. Slate roofs. Copper roof to campanile. Lead roof to sanctuary.

PLAN: Clerestoried nave, five-bay N and S aisles, sanctuary with semi-circular apse, W end baptistry apse, NE Lady Chapel, SE war memorial chapel, SE campanile with vestry block off W side, SW porch with W and S doors.

EXTERIOR: The style is Italianate Romanesque, in complete contrast to the prevalent Gothic style of church-building in the 1860s. The other fundamental characteristic of the exterior is the use of cement rendering for the facing. This is decorated with narrow brick banding and polychrome red and brick arches to the openings. The sanctuary is blind with a corbelled brick cornice and is ornamented with three brick crosses. The nave has tall, round-headed clerestory windows and brick string-courses. To the aisles there are low lean-to roofs and small two-light square-headed windows, each with a central column with moulded capital and base. The blind E wall and gable of the NE chapel projects E beyond the end of the sanctuary apse. A smaller apsidal chapel projects E from the link block to the campanile. The N elevation has brick banding and seven windows with three pairs of round-headed windows and a one-light window to the W. The W-end baptistry has recessed windows with stepped detail to the jambs. Above there is a large oculus in the nave W wall. The campanile has three stages demarcated by brick banding. Its lowest stage has narrow paired one-light windows with brick relieving arches. The next stage has square-headed one-light windows to each face recessed under round-headed brick arches. The S face has a larger window under a gable. In the belfry stage there are very large three-light windows with three cusped circles in each of the heads. The clock faces below the belfry stage are framed by paired brick pilasters. Capping the campanile is a low pyramidal roof. At the SW corner of the building the S porch wraps it and is a continuation of the S aisle. The S doorway has corbelled detailing to the jambs and an outer door with good strap hinges. Above the lintel, the wall is pierced with three openings for an overlight. There is a more elaborate doorway to the W with a polychromatic round-headed arch recessed under a corbelled gable.

INTERIOR: The interior is brightly lit and has simple lines and its effect comes from the rich decoration which is but a part of what was intended. Unlike Gothic church plans of the time, the chancel forms part of the main body of the building with just the stepped-up sanctuary projecting as a separate structure beyond a tall polychromatic arch. The area of the choir is defined by low walls on three sides. Either side of the chancel arch the wall is gilded and painted with the emblems of the Evangelists. The arcades, both N and S, are of six bays with round, unstepped arches with cylindrical stone piers with broad waterleaf capitals with some figure carving: the bases rest on brick plinths. The arch to the W baptistry is round too, the responds having waterleaf capitals with some figure carvings. The W oculus is recessed behind a round-headed arch. Covering the nave is a tie-beam and king-post roof with broad arch-braces to the collar. Three pairs of purlins divide the roof into panels which are richly decorated with sun-burst motifs. In the aisles the lean-to roofs are plainer but are also painted. The flat, boarded roof to the baptistry is also painted. In the E apse the roof is painted with a large gilded figure of Christ in Majesty above a wall frieze of the Apostles and a depiction