Find hope, purpose, and community at
St Barnabas Anglican Church.
Transforming Lives Through Faith
Find hope, purpose, and community at
St Barnabas Anglican Church.
Worship and Community
Join us for Sunday Service
Join us for Sunday Service
Join us for Sunday Service
St Barnabas has been a place of Christian worship for over 125 years and our faith continues to be at the very heart of all we do. Join us in worship and fellowship as we grow in our faith and serve our community every Sunday morning. When you arrive you'll be greeted by a member of our Welcome Team. If you are joining us for the Sunday Eucharist, please sit wherever you like in one of our wooden pews. Our service starts at 9:00am and lasts approximately 1.25 hours.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Learn about our beliefs
Join us for Sunday Service
Join us for Sunday Service
Our beliefs are based on the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ. We believe in the Trinity, salvation through faith in Jesus, and the importance of living a life of love and service.
Sunday School
Join us for Sunday Service
Weekly Prayer Meeting
St Barnabas Sunday School Teachers provide activities and learning about Christianity for children 3 years and older.
Weekly Prayer Meeting
Baptisms and Confirmation
Weekly Prayer Meeting
Join us every Thursday at 9:15am in lifting up those in need of prayer. Please share any prayer requests via our email address at church@stbarnabas.org.za.
Baptisms and Confirmation
Baptisms and Confirmation
Baptisms and Confirmation
We offer baptism and confirmation to our members.
Weddings and Funerals
Baptisms and Confirmation
Baptisms and Confirmation
If you would like to enquire about weddings or funerals at St Barnabas please email our church office at church@stbarnabas.org.za.
About the Church
Historic Anglican Church
St Barnabas 1895 is a historic Anglican church located in the city, deeply connected to the local community. Established in 1895, this place of worship has a rich history and continues to serve as a spiritual hub, offering a welcoming environment for all.
It all started one day when the Very Reverend Charles Barnett-Clarke, dean of Cape Town must have looked towards Kloof Nek and possibly thought of the opening line in Psalm 122, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.” Believing that help would come from the Lord, he wondered what could be done for the saints, as St Paul would have said, who lived in the area.
Could a Mission Outpost be started? Just at the same time the Sisters of the Community of All Saints decided to move their quarters from Keerom Street to Kloof Road, as Kloof Nek Road was then known, as they offered to assist the Dean in starting a Mission. This was to become the foundation of our parish church.
A property owner, Mr Caporn, offered to convert a house in De Lorentz Street for use as a Mission House. Thus, the Cathedral Church Upper Room came into being. Chairs, organ and hangings were purchased, while an altar and some furniture for the sanctuary were lent by the Sisters from their chapel in Wynberg. On 23rd May 1893, the Chapel was opened as the Cathedral Upper Room, with the Reverend John Gordon in charge.
In 1894, the Reverend T.O.S. Davies came from England to be Chaplain of All Saint’s Home and from the time of his arrival, he and his wife took great interest in the Mission Chapel. In 1895 he was given charge of the Mission and later that year the name was changed to St Barnabas Mission Church. Soon after taking up his duties, Mr. Davies purchased a tract of land extending from Kloof Road to St Barnabas Street and the first building to be erected was the Rectory, then known as Church House.
On 13th December 1897, at a meeting of the male members of the congregation it was proposed that the building of the church be started. The architect was Sir Herbert Baker and many of the drawings and sketches of plans may be seen in the Jagger Collection in the library at the University of Cape Town. Through these drawing some may trace much of the history of the planning which has shaped the building as it is today. One of the earliest drawings is a small water color sketch of the Church signed by Baker and dated 22 October 1896, showing a somewhat different picture from the Church as it was built. The nave later became longer, and a large parish room was housed beneath this in the space that the natural slope of the ground offered. At one stage the crypt was used by the Girl Guides and Brownies. Today, the historic parish room or crypt is used for Sunday School. The drawings by Baker and his assistants completed with the City Engineer’s official approval dated 29th January 1898, may also be found in the Jagger Collection, as well as the plans for the Vestry, then called the Parish Room.
Tenders were called for the and those submitted were: £4,560, £4,450 and £4,100, the latter being submitted by a Mr Hopkins. The Committee recommended that the lowest tender be accepted, the details of which show the nave alone costed £3,165, the Narthex(or Porch) £155, the Apse £47 and the Parish Room£735. Not all the work was to be completed immediately but the amount of £3,300 was realized by collections, legacies, subscriptions and loans.
The foundation stone of the new St Barnabas Church was laid on the 10th of December 1898. The Church was built of Table Mountain sandstone and Kloof granite, probably from Higgo Quarry, now Higgovale. Mountain stone forms the structure up to the base of the windows and above that is granite. With the passage of time the two types of stones have mellowed and blended into a very pleasing combination.
The spacious nave is 34 feet wide and 21 feet high and the rafters are supported by eight fine queens post arch braced trusses, each fitted with tie rods and resting on granite corbels on the walls, with dark wood boarding above the rafters. Over the west gable wall, a small bellcote has been formed by projecting the ridge and a short slope of roof on either side. This is supported by a miniature kings post truss on curved brackets, resting on small corbels. It is interesting to note that the queens post trusses are to be found in many English country churches.
The Reverend Thomas Owen Sylvester Davies was Priest-in-Chargefrom 1895 to 1902 and the first Rector of the parish from 1902 to 1905, and by his devotion and generosity he became our Founder Priest and Benefactor. Apart from bequests made to members of his family and grants to the S.P.G. and S.P.C.K. and other religious communities, he bequeathed the residue of his estate to his widow during her lifetime, and after her death, to St Barnabas Church. Money which he had loaned during building operations, together with the sale of two properties in Kloof Road, were left to each successive incumbent of the parish to be used at his discretion. The sum which amounted to £2,600, became known as the “Davies Bequest” and it was finally used to augment the Hall Building Fund during the time of Canon A.F. van der Byl. Father Davies also left the rent of five properties to the Rector of St Barnabas, because he thought the parish might not have enough money to pay a satisfactory stipend. These were a house and ground in Kloof Road, “Arcadia”, and “St Wilfred’s”, also in Kloof Road, and two cottages near St Augustine’s School Ground.
The earliest Church Register, which we have is for 1903 and the first entry is for Easter Day, when the Services were held at 6:30am, 8am, 10:45am, 3pm and 7pm. The number of Communicants was 138 and the collection, which amounted to £17/12/11,5 was given to the Rector.
At a Vestry Meetingheld on 17th May 1905, arrangements were finalised for the installation of the organ which had been ordered from Messrs J.J. Binns of Leeds, who would supply and instal it for a cost of £480. The cost of the gallery was £130 so with the various other sundry items, the total cost was £700.
The Pulpit was installed in the early days of the church. It is oak and was carved by a Mr James Briant, a sidesman and subsequently churchwarden. Around the pulpit he carved figures of five saints: St Barnabas, St Cyprian, St Augustine of Hippo, St Aiden and St Augustine of Canterbury. Also carved by Mr Briant is the board of which the Rectors’ names are inscribed, on the south wall just left of the door to the Vestry. This was erected in memory of the first Rector, the Reverend T.O.S. Davies, in tribute of his generosity and self-sacrificing devotion to his parish. More of Mr Briant’s carving is the Hymn Boards and the Memorial Plaques on the north wall near the stairway up to the organ loft. This has provision for brass tablets to be inserted in memory of those who worshipped at St Barnabas during their lifetimes, and some are in memory of members who died in active service during World War I.
Because the church was built on sloping ground from west to east and since the fabric was of stone and granite, much anxiety was caused by large cracks appearing in the north and south walls. From time-to-time action had to be taken to deal with this problem. At a Parish Council Meeting held on 17th January 1917, the acting Rector, the Reverend E.W. Place, warned the members that the cracks in the north, south and east walls were causing great alarm and that something had to be done. It was decided to call in the services of the architect who had been responsible for some work done in 1910. After his examination he confirmed the suspicion that the thrust of the roof was gradually forcing the walls outwards. A quantity surveyor who was consulted said the condition was due to a number of adverse factors. The church was built on a sloping site with a clay subsoil; the walls were of insufficient thickness, weakened further by too many windows, and the buttresses were inadequate to maintain he heavy thrust from the pitch of the roof. The foundations also were not what they should have been and cape lime, which has no adhesive qualities, had been used for the mortar. The affected walls would have to be shored up to prevent the possibility of further mischief, should a strong South-Easter blow.
To be continued…