25.2 – St Barnabas location

If St Saviour’s was the first church built specifically for the Deaf community in London, then St Barnabas on Evelyn Street in Deptford was the second. The foundation stone was laid in 1882, and the church was opened in 1883. It remained open until 1953.

Although we don’t have a great deal of information on it (and our focus is St Saviour’s), we can show you where it was.

This is a map of the bottom of Evelyn Street, and its junction with New King Street in the 1870s.

from 1870 digimap

A close up gives you the the smithy on the north side of Evelyn Street, the drinking fountain on the junction of the roads and another fountain on the north side of the Evelyn street, behind a wall, in what must have been a nice little garden.

from 1870 close-up

And here, the same close up for the 1890 map

from 1890 close-up

The church was long and narrow, and although it says ‘seats for 150 here’ they could squeeze in about 200.

Not much then changes to 1950. The smithy has gone, and a pub has opened on Evelyn street.

from 1950 close-up

And then… in the 1960s, they did this:

from 1970 close-up

And that’s pretty much what it looks like today.