St. Barnabas. Brampton Bryan. The present church is unusual in that built in 1656. It replaces an earlier building that was destroyed together with the whole village during the siege of Brampton Bryan castle during the civil war in 1643. This image of the Civil War re-enactors shows the armies and people marching back through the mists of time. The breadth of the church is all out of proportion to its length. Its nave and chancel are one, all-covered by a very fine triple hammer beam roof. The church contains one early 14th century monument to Lady Margaret de Brampton, shown holding her heart in her hands. It also contains a memorial to Sir Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford and Earl of March, Speaker of Parliament, Lord High Treasurer of Great Britain in the reign of Queen Anne. He was friends with Swift and Pope. Harley collected many ancient manuscripts which form part of the British museum's collection. You may notice annotations to various old scripts attributing them to the Harley Collection. INFOPOINT Infopoint has recently been installed in the church. This allows visitors to scan a QR Code with their smartphone, or use the installed monitor to get information as they go round the church. Try it! St Barnabas has successfully completed the Forward St Barnabas project for urgent repairs and improvements. The improvements were funded by significant Grants from The Herefordshire Historic Churches Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, Harley Charity, All Churches Trust, National Churches Trust, and Laslett Charities, together with some notable donations from individuals. The urgent repairs were funded with a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund amounting to £220,000 to complete the project. Give a small donation towards the upkeep of the church and its mission. Use the QR code in the church, shortly we will have a contactless system of gifting money to the church. Our website www.bramptonbryan.org.uk features comprehensive details of the history of the church, village and community, including an interactive map, and short films about the siege of the castle , the history surrounding the seige, Civil War re- enactment and discoveries made during the Forward St Barnabas project.
PARISH of WIGMORE ABBEY
Lady Brilliana Conway HarleyClick here for the history