AS GHOSTS of the Civil War they came, fresh from re-enacting the
siege of Brampton Bryan Castle, in Hereford
diocese, to St Barnabas's. They were led by Brilliana, Lady Harley,
who, with her children, had defended the Castle against the
Royalists, who had already destroyed the surrounding village,
including the church.
Puritans they may have been, but their ghosts processed to the
present St Barnabas's for a holy communion service from the Book of
Common Prayer, led by the current Rector, the Revd Mike Catling.
The sermon was given by the Revd Keith Berry-Davies, a retired RAF
chaplain, dressed in period with a Laudian cap.
The siege that these members of the English Civil War Society
were commemorating was so long and bitter that Harley died soon
after from pneumonia, presumably brought on by the privations of
the siege. The King's troops came back a second time, when the
Castle was finally surrendered, and the Harley children were taken
prisoner.
The present St Barnabas's was rebuilt in 1656 to replace the
medieval church that had been destroyed. It is one of the Select
Company of Six churches - the only ones known to have been
constructed during the Commonwealth, joining those at
Berwick-upon-Tweed; Guyhirn, in Cambridgeshire; Plaxtol, in Kent;
Poplar, in London; and Staunton Harold, in Leicestershire.
Should any others claim the same heritage, the Select Company
would like to hear from them (email agloag@btinternet.com), with
the idea of forming a linkage between the Churches of the English
Commonwealth.