Barnsley Parish
A Curacy House belonging to St. Mary's Church existed on the site of the present Zion Methodist Church in Old Town as early as the year 1600, but it wasn't until 1887 that a Sunday School was established in a two-roomed bungalow cottage in School Street.Church services were held there after evensong at St. Mary's.The men of the Parish used one room as a club room for playing cards and billiards and the other room was used for church services and for Mothers' Union Meetings.This building later became a stable and is now demolished.
By 1890 the Church had purchased the "Old Church", which had been shared by the Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, when the Methodists built their present Chapel in Cutty Lane.This “Old Church" had two rooms, the larger one being used for church services and the smaller one for the Sunday School, social activities and as a vestry.This building was dedicated on 18th December 1894 by Wakefield's first Bishop, the Rt. Rev. William Walsham How, when Canon Kirkby was Rector, Thomas Fox was Church Warden and the Rev. E. T. Spencer was the first Priest-in-Charge of the Church.Mr. Thomas Fox remained a constant friend of St. Paul's until his death, permitting the use of the grounds of his house in Hall Bank for Church Garden Parties.
By 1907 it was realised that a new St. Paul's Church would eventually be needed to minister to the area's growing population and the then Priest-in-Charge, the Rev. N. Crick, held a meeting to discuss the opening of a building fund.At that meeting it was decided to go ahead with the fund despite it being against the wishes of the Rector, Dr. Foxley Norris.Mr. Harold Taylor was appointed Treasurer.By 1909 the fund stood at £20 and two possible sites for the new church, both behind the Grey Horse off Palm Street, had been inspected. At this time a house to the rear of the "Old Church" was in use mainly by the men as a clubroom - a name which it kept until its demolition.This building was used by the Civil Defence during the last war).In the 1930s during the Curacy of the Rev. W. Parsons, great efforts were made to raise funds by "selling bricks" for the building of the new church by organising miles of pennies and other such events.
Sir Hickman Bacon gave a piece of land to the church situated where Southgate now stands.The Tinker family ceased farming that land and a group of strong men from the bible class and the church football team dug out the foundations of the new church.It was then found that the land was so undermined that it would not support such a heavy building and the site was abandoned.With the donors permission the land was sold and the present site, together with the field opposite, was inspected and then purchased from the Barraclough family.Plans were drawn up by Mr. F. C. Moxon and finally accepted by the Building Committee ably guided by the Rector, Canon Wilkinson, who was assisted by the two Sidesmen Mr. S. Thompson and Mr. T. Wilson.
The building was begun and the foundation stone laid amidst great excitement and thanksgiving.The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Sankey, had been invited to lay the foundation stone but was unable to be present due to illness.So Mr. Ralph Frederick Pawsey, senior partner at Newman and Bond, deputised and laid the stone in the presence of the Bishop of Wakefield, Rt. Rev. "Jimmy" Seaton.
When the foundations were dug the land was found not to be virgin soil, so this entailed digging out cavernous amounts of soil before the foundations could be started.Then when the walls had finally been erected the building work came to a standstill for three months because the steel for the dome was not available due to the National Armament Scheme.
In the original plans the nave extended a further 30 feet to the west, but funds ran out and it was decided to complete the church with a flat West Front instead of one echoing the architectural ornamentation of the other three sides.Even so, this left a debt of£5,000 to be cleared over later years.By October 1938, the building was ready and was consecrated on 29th October by the Bishop of Wakefield, the Rt.Rev. Campbell Hone.The tasteful furnishing of the interior was largely due to the influence of the Priest-in-Charge at that time, the Rev. J. D. Beloe.The "Old Church" now became the church hall - a centre for social and youth activities.The long, hard task of paying off the debt on the New Church began.War came and the land opposite the church was sold to the Corporation of Barnsley for recreational purposes.
In 1954, when the Rev. N.Elliott was Priest-in-Charge, a "Call for a Wall and a Hall" was issued and just over two years later both were realised at a cost of £6,500 for the Hall and £1,300 for the Wall.The Bishop of Wakefield the Rt. Rev. Roger Wilson dedicated the new hall on Saturday 11th May 1957.The Old Hall, which is now demolished and the land on which it stood were sold to the Corporation of Barnsley.
The cross on top of the dome was eventually placed in position in 1964 so ending the speculation of passers-by as to what the Byzantine building might be.In the same year the Thompson Trust left a bequest of £3,500 to the church. It was to be administered by the Priest and Sidesmen of St. Paul's for the purchase of a Church House and/or extension of the church at the West End.In 1965 some of the money was used to purchase 33 Queen's Drive which was to be the home of many Priests-in-Charge until the year 2000.
The original church heating boiler was converted from coke-fired to gas-fired in 1969 thus saving a lot of effort by the men of the church in shovelling coke to keep the boiler fuelled.In 1996-7 the church hall was refurbished by providing a new, larger kitchen and new ladies' toilets together with a new central heating and hot water boilers at a total cost of £20,000.More recently in 1998 a new gas-fired boiler was installed in the church at a cost of £6,100 together with a sound-enhancement system costing the same amount.