Patrick Comerford
I walked around Leighton Buzzard and Linslade recently, spending an afternoon looking at the historic buildings and churches, including All Saints’ Church in the centre of Leighton Buzzard, and Saint Barnabas Church in Linslade, two or three minutes walk from Leighton Buzzard railway station.
The Benefice of Linslade includes Saint Barnabas Church in Linslade and Saint Mary’s Church, Old Linslade, and is part of the Ouzel Valley Team ministry in the Diocese of St Albans, which includes All Saints’ Church, Leighton Buzzard, Saint Leonard’s, Heath and Reach and the surrounding villages of Hockliffe, Eggington and Billington.
The original village of Linslade was a market town with an annual fair from the late 13th century on. Many pilgrims visited Holy Well in Linslade, just a few hundred yards north of the church, with a reputation for their miraculous healing powers. However, the Bishop of Lincoln banned pilgrimages to the well in 1299, threatening anyone who defied his ban with excommunication.
Linslade developed rapidly in the last two centuries with the arrival of the canal in 1805 and the railway in 1838, and many houses were built on new streets for railway workers. Saint Mary’s Church in Old Linslade was the original parish church. But the old church was two miles from the new housing, and as New Linslade developed the clergy and parishioners identified the need for a new church that was more accessible.
The Revd Benjamin Perkins circulated a handbill in June 1840 seeking donations to build a new church. However, the raised appeal only £240 and the plans were put on hold. Then in 1847, a new incumbent, the Revd Peter Thomas Ouvry, launched a second and more successful campaign. Edward Lawford donated a site for a new church, vicarage and school, now the church hall, in the area known as Chelsea.
The London and North Western Railway Company supported the new church. The foundation stone was laid on 31 May 1848, and the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Oxford on 15 June 1849. The new church had a nave, chancel, west gallery and north porch.
The vicarage was built in 1854, the organ was installed in 1861, and the south aisle and tower were added in 1868. The five bells from Saint Mary’s were hung in the tower in 1869, along a new bell, and a further two new bells were added in 1904.
The architect was Benjamin Ferrey (1810-1880), who studied under Augustus Charles Pugin, alongside Pugin’s son AWN Pugin and became his biographer (1861). Charles Eastlake described Ferrey as ‘one of the earliest, ablest, and most zealous pioneers of the modern Gothic school,’ and said his work ‘possessed the rare charm of simplicity, without lacking interest.’
Ferrey began his own practice in 1834. He was the diocesan architect for Bath and Wells from 1841 until his death, and a large amount of hiswork was in that diocese. He was succeeded by his son Edmund Benjamin Ferrey (1845–1900).
Ferrey’s church in Linslade was built in 1848-1849. The south aisle and south-west tower, also by Ferrey, were added in 1868-1889, the Lady Chapel and part of north aisle by JT Lawrence were added in 1905, the north aisle was finished and the north and west porches were added in 1912-1913. The chancel was extended by 15 ft under a separate plan designed by GH Fellowes Prynne in 1913-1914.
This means the 1840s church has been greatly expanded and it is now a very spreading composition, yet surprisingly consistent in appearance given its long building history. It is in the Gothic Revival style and is inspired by the architecture of the late 13th century.
The walls are of native stone with Bath stone dressings. There is a spacious nave and chancel. The font (1913) has a bowl of Verona marble with carved sides on a cylindrical stone base with green and red marble shafts.
In the west end wall is a series of Early English arcading with stone shafts. Between them are four lights forming the west window.
There are four two-light windows in the north and south walls of the nave with geometrical headings. The hammer-beams of the roof of the nave rest on plain corbels of stone, while the corbels of the chancel roof are sculptured. The chancel is lighted by four single windows in the side walls and a four-light window with geometrical tracery in the east end.
Some of the windows were filled in 1994-1995 with glass made by Charles Eamer Kempe for Ely Theological College. Two windows in the north aisle (1878, 1885) are by Kempe and are original to the church. The single-light window of Saint Barnabas in the vestry is an early work by Morris and Co. The east window (1873) is by Heaton, Butler and Bayne and was reset when the chancel was extended. The Lady Chapel and west windows are by Percy Bacon.
Saint Barnabas Church and the rest of Linslade were in Buckinghamshire until 1965 and in the Diocese of Oxford. When Linslade was transferred to Bedfordshire, the ecclesiastical parish remained in the Diocese of Oxford until it was transferred to the Diocese of St Albans in 2008.
The old church of Saint Mary the Virgin in Old Linslade now appears isolated, with just a few houses nearby.
The clergy team at Saint Barnabas is led by Rev Dr Bernard Minton who is assisted by Rev Wyn Jones and by three readers.
The main service in Saint Barnabas is the Parish Eucharist on Sundays at 10 am, with Sunday School and creche. There is a said Eucharist every Sunday at 8 am, the Sung Parish Eucharist is every first, second, fourth and fifth Sunday at 10 am, and a less formal All-Age Eucharist on the third Sunday of the month.
Sung Evensong is every Sunday at 6 pm, with Choral Evensong once a month and Benediction every third Sunday at 7 pm. Morning Prayer is on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 9 am and the Eucharist every Wednesday at 9:30 am. Evening Prayer is on Mondays at 5 pm and every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 6 pm.
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