ST BARNABAS CHURCH
CLARE ANGLICAN
PAUL SCOTT
The country town of Clare is some 140 km north of Adelaide on the Horrocks Highway. Just after passing through the town we come to a roundabout with the Farrell Flat Road leading diagonally off to the right. Following this, and veering right, almost immediately there is a small branch road to the right, ascending a hill past a plantation of trees. At the top, an ample parking area surrounds the old Anglican Church of St Barnabas.
The axis of the Church is almost exactly geographically east-west, so we have no difficulty in identifying our liturgical directions in which the sanctuary points due East (with a capital letter), with the geographical directions.
A brief history of this Church is given below. However, if you want to begin your tour of the Church immediately, tap / click on START . You can also access intermediate points in the tour by a tap / click on the following links:
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HISTORY
Years Built: 1851, 1874
Address: 25 Farrell Flat Road, Clare SA 5453
Built in 1851, in simple Gothic Revival design, St Barnabas was the outcome of much active lobbying by the founder of Clare, E. B. Gleeson, and other local people of influence.
• It is one of the earliest surviving rural Anglican churches of its type and reflects the religious aspirations of settlers at the time.
• It is claimed to be the oldest church north of Adelaide.
• The Rev. Bagshawe, the incumbent, was the architect of both Clare and Penwortham Churches and of the parsonage.
In 1851 a visiting journalist noted that:
‘Clare has an Episcopal Church, on the hill, near the entrance of the village from the Burra, in course of erection;
the design is Gothic, and the edifice will perhaps contain 200 persons ; but it is not far advanced, and there seemed a want of funds, or energy, or something to complete it.’
Significant Interest
1. Architectural: A simple church in Gothic Revival style constructed of local stone. The interior of the church contains records of many pioneer families on tablets, windows and memorials. Likewise the patterned wood ceiling and fine reredos are important examples. A chancel and vestry were added in 1874.
2. Historical: Land was granted for a church in 1848, and in 1850 a cornerstone was laid by Mrs E. B. Gleeson. This church has been the place of worship for many of the principal people of the district – in the days of the nineteenth century pastoral elite and beyond – and has seen an active wider ministry in the community.
– Chronicle (Adelaide, SA) Thu 13 Jun 1929 Page 51...
• Services had previously been held in the court-house, a picturesque building, nestling in the hills to the west of the town, by Archdeacon Hale, who itinerated the district in the late forties.
• The church was opened for service in 1851, the Rev. J. C. Bagshawe, M.A., being incumbent. He lived in Penwortham parsonage, six miles away, and served Clare from thence.
• Originally (in 1851) Clare was the post town for Bundaleer station, then owned by John Bristow Hughes. When his eldest daughter, Maria, was born, he gave a bell to St. Barnabas's Church as a thank-offering. He caused her name and date of birth (1851) to be inscribed round the rim of the bell. The heroine of the bell was still living in 1929.
• In 1852 Mr. Bagshawe left for St. John’s, Adelaide, and the Rev. William Wood (a deacon) succeeded him.
• Bishop Short notes in his visitation of 1857— ‘The church at Clare, desolate enough, even the gables falling out and sheep feeding in the churchyard. After service spoke to the church wardens about saving the building by tie rods, and about fencing the churchyard.’
• In the time of the Rev. S. Dutton Green, the church was renovated and consecrated (February 28, 1864). The porch door was moved from the north side to its present position. Mr. Green and family left the same year for England.
• The Church’s Diamond Jubilee was held on Sunday 12 June 1910.
Architectural Analysis of Interest
This church was built in 1850-1 and probably finished in 1852, a chancel and vestry were added in 1874.
• It is constructed of stone walling on a rectangular floor plan, with buttresses to corners and three on northern and southern facades.
• The roof of the church is gabled, as is that to the porch and chancel, although there is also a skillion roofed section appended to the chancel on the southern facade.
• Roofing is clad in corrugated galvanised iron.
• Verges are clad in masonry and eaves have guttering. At the point of ridge and gable on the western facade is a small belfry and a cross sits in a similar position on the porch.
• Lancet windows are placed between buttresses and doors are of lancet shape.
• The interior of the church is in fine condition and contains in physical form the life of the congregation, via tablets, memorials and windows.
• The ceiling is an ornate feature with diamond and circular shaped panels of timber.
• The chancel has a simple, yet beautiful, 1952 reredos (an ornamental screen covering the wall at the back of an altar).
Historical Analysis of Interest
• In July 1848, Bishop Short received a land grant by ‘Her Majesty's Special Grace’, for a section of 20 acres at Clare ‘Upon trust for the erection thereon and for the maintenance and repair of a Church to be called St Barnabas Church Clare’.
• On 27 February 1850, E. B. Gleeson, with a number of other notables including Reverend J. C. Bashawe; C.H. Watts; G. C. Hawker and J. Maynard, proposed that a Church of England be erected.
• Later in that year, Gleeson’s wife, Mrs E. B. Gleeson laid the cornerstone for St Barnabas’ and by January 1851 construction was in progress.
• Gleeson was appointed a trustee and Church Warden.
◦ The remains of the Gleesons lie in the family vault, close to the church, and the Gleeson home, Inchiquin, has passed into other hands.
◦ Mrs. Gleeson outlived her husband, and died at a good old age. She saw eight names inscribed upon the family tombstone before her own was added to the number.
The church was apparently built and opened for worship in 1851, but it was not until the Diocesan Assembly, meeting in January 1853, that the wider church was informed that St Barnabas’ had been completed during the last year.
• In 1874 a chancel and vestry were added.
• This church has played a pivotal role in the lives of many Clare residents.
• They were baptised in the church, taught in its school room or (in the early days) buried in its cemetery.
https://www.clarehistory.com/top-ten-historic-buildings-of-clare
