History of the church

From the Parish Magazine, 1922
Not many years ago, the area where St Barnabas, Southfields now stands was open fields, containing watercress beds and a farm. The first houses to be built were those in the Longfield Street and Burr Road areas, and it was in the latter that the first St Barnabas' church stood. This was a temporary 'tin tabernacle' that served as the church's base while the houses in the 'Grid' were being built up, following the opening of the District Line in 1889.

At first the church operated as part of the parish of St Paul (St Paul's is at the top of Augustus Road near Wimbledon Common), and a succession of 'curates' were appointed to look after this area. The foundation stone of the present church was laid in 1906 by Canon Scott Holland of St Paul's Cathedral. It was opened and dedicated on May 9th 1908 by the Bishop of Southwark.

The design was by C Ford Whitcombe, following the 'perpendicular' style like many churches in East Anglia. In the early days St Barnabas needed as many as 800 seats for the regular worshippers, and 2,000 copies of the parish magazine were distributed.

Once the houses on the grid, and the streets either side of Penwith Road, had been built up, the area of St Barnabas' church was ready to become a parish on its own. There was some dispute about boundaries because the middle-class residents on the other side of the railway did not relish being separated from St Paul's and lumped with 'the poor of St Barnabas'.

The parish boundary was finally agreed as the River Wandle, the borough boundary along Ravensbury and Revelstoke Roads, the District railway line and finally a line from Wimbledon Park Road back to the Wandle via Smeaton and Kimber Roads. It remains as such to this day.

St Barnabas' district finally became a parish in 1922, and the priest in charge (The Revd J W Warren) became the first Vicar. The parish has changed a great deal since those days, when people often stayed here all their lives.

This was the era of parish organisations and clubs for every section of the community, and so there were two halls in addition to the church building - Laurence Hall in Standen Road and Acuba Hall in Acuba Road. In the 1970s these were replaced by the present hall, which is part of the church building.

The profile of the congregation has continued to change in recent years. It now consists of a good mix of older members, many of whom have attended St Barnabas for years, and a growing number of younger families, who move to the area because of the excellent local facilities, good schools and pleasant surroundings.