St Bartholomew's Church, Burnley, Anglican church in Richmond, Melbourne, Australia
St Bartholomew's Church, at 290 Burnley Street on the corner of Boyd Street, is a brick building combining Arts and Crafts and early Art Deco elements. Gawler & Drummond designed its four-bay nave, transepts, chancel, crenellated brick bell tower and baptistery, reusing bricks, flooring and roofing from the earlier Swan Street church. The interior holds stained glass, leadlights, a pipe organ and an altar transferred in 1926.
A committee formed in 1883 raised funds for a church in Burnley, and a wooden Gothic hall opened on 22 January 1885 at Swan and Burnley Streets. The parish became separate in 1890 under Reverend Henry James Powell. A brick church by Thomas Watts and Sons was dedicated in December 1910, but ground vibrations and limited space led to relocation; the present church and hall complex, designed by Gawler & Drummond, was dedicated on 27 October 1926.
The name comes from St Bartholomew, patron saint of tanners, a major Burnley industry in the 1880s; the first meeting was held in August, the month of his feast on 24 August. The parish follows the Anglo-Catholic tradition, and its opportunity shop in the parish hall supports ministries around Richmond.
The church and hall stand at 290 Burnley Street, on the corner of Boyd Street, halfway between Swan Street and Bridge Road. Burnley Street marks the boundary: the land is in Richmond, though the parish serves Burnley. The 2013 work underpinned the building, added drainage and paved the surrounding ground.
The six bells in the tower were cast in 2014 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London and consecrated by Archbishop Philip Freier on 24 August, the Feast of St Bartholomew. The tenor bell is tuned to D and weighs 203 kg. The tower was renovated and the bells hung in April 2015.
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