St Barnabas' Church, Mossley Hill facts for kids

Quick facts for kids St Barnabas' Church, Mossley Hill
St Barnabas' Church, Mossley Hill, from the southwest
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OS grid reference	SJ 393 884
Location	Smithdown Place, Mossley Hill, Liverpool, Merseyside
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Barnabas, Mossley Hill
History
Status	Parish church
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	19 June 1985
Architect(s)	James Francis Doyle
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival (Perpendicular)
Groundbreaking	1900
Completed	1914
Construction cost	£14,000
Specifications
Materials	Brick with sandstone dressings, slate roof
Administration
Parish	Penny Lane St Barnabas
Deanery	Liverpool South Childwall
Archdeaconry	Liverpool
Diocese	Liverpool
Province	York

St Barnabas' Church is a special old church located in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, England. You can find it where Allerton Road, Smithdown Road, and Penny Lane meet. It's an active Anglican church, which means it's part of the Church of England and serves the local community. It's also a 'Grade II listed building,' which means it's an important historical building protected by the government.

Building the Church: A Look at its History

St Barnabas' Church was built between 1900 and 1914. A Liverpool architect named James Francis Doyle designed it. Before the main church was finished, people met in a temporary church made of iron.

Sadly, James Francis Doyle passed away before the church was completed. His brother, Sydney W. Doyle, then took over to finish the building. The church itself cost about £14,000 to build. With all the things inside, the total cost was around £25,000 in 1914.

Over the years, the church has changed a bit. In the 1960s, some of the long wooden benches (called pews) were removed from the front part of the church. A new altar (a table used for religious services) was put in the main area. In 1999, a small kitchen was added. More pews have been removed since then to create an open space at the back of the church.

Church Design: What it Looks Like

The church is built with special bricks of different sizes. It also has red sandstone decorations. The roof is made of slate. The style of the building is called Perpendicular Gothic, which is a type of Gothic Revival design. Inside, the tall columns are made from Storeton stone.

Outside the Church

The church has a main long area called the nave. On either side of the nave are narrower sections called aisles. There are also two porches on the south side. The church has parts that stick out on the north and south sides, called transepts. At the front, there's a chancel with a small chapel on the south side and a room for the clergy (called a vestry) on the northeast.

At the west end of the church, there's a tall tower. This tower has an entrance at the bottom. Above the entrance, there's a window with three sections. Higher up, there are openings for bells, covered with wooden slats. Above these, you can see a decorative border and a wall with a pattern of arches and battlements (like on a castle). The porches also have these battlement-like tops. The windows along the sides of the aisles and the upper part of the nave (the clerestory) have three sections. The windows in the transepts and the chancel have five sections. The chapel windows have three sections, and the vestry windows have two or three sections.

Inside the Church

Inside, there are rows of arches (called arcades) that separate the main nave from the aisles. There's also a set of arches between the chancel and the chapel, which are more decorated. The large window at the very front (the east window) has beautiful stained glass that acts as a war memorial. It was made by H. G. Hiller.

The church has a large pipe organ with two keyboards (manuals). It was built by a company called Henry Willis & Sons. The organ's wooden case was designed by Sydney W. Doyle, who finished building the church. In 2010, eight bells were installed in the tower. Six of the largest bells came from another church, and the two smallest bells came from a different place.

Famous Connections

• Paul McCartney, a famous musician from The Beatles, once said on a TV show that he used to sing in the choir at St Barnabas' Church when he was young. There's even a brass plate on the choir stalls in the church to remember this!

See also

• Grade II listed buildings in Liverpool-L18