03 : The ‘Tin Church’
There were no plans for a church in the original plans of the Brentham Estate, built from 1901 onwards. However, a temporary ‘mission church’, dedicated to St Barnabas, was constructed at the junction of Pitshanger Lane and Castlebar Park. The land was purchased in December 1905 by Dr Tupholme, Vicar of St Stephens aided by Miss Mary Baron and her two sisters, who lived in Cleveland Road, and a corrugated iron church was built by 1907, and consecrated on 9th November. This is shown in the sketch below, and was affectionately known as the ‘Tin Church’. It held only 250 people, whereas the population of the area had grown to about 5000 by 1913. It proved impossible to build a larger, definitive church on this site because of intractable legal problems. After the consecration of the definitive St Barnabas Church in 1916, the building served as the Parish Hall (or ‘Church Room’) for many years It suffered bomb damage in November 1940 and was destroyed by an accidental fire on 1st May 1942. The site was sold in 1951.
Drawing of the ‘Tin Church’
‘Children’s Catechism Altar and table of our Lady’ in the ‘Tin Church’
Site of the ‘Tin Church’ – then the Church Hall – on 1935 map
