Barnabas House - TheChaplain's House

Until 1952 the Chaplain of St Barnabas' lived in Famgusta and travelled every week to Limassol and then on to Paphos to take the 6 p.m. service there. And there were no motorways on the island at the time! Then the Chaplain's house was built in the church compound, which must have made life a good deal easier. The Rev. Canon Hubert Matthews described his first sight of the completed house:-

"We found the house completely arranged, cleaned, beds made up, food brought in, everything ready, even to a box of matches on the kitchen table ....... we explored the house. In the kitchen was a three-burner Valor oil stove and a paraffin fridge, also an icebox from former days. Outside there was a wash house with copper ...... The two bathrooms each had a wood burning stove to heat the water... ... our bedroom had a very large and very old wooden bedstead with so many nails sticking out of it that it was a work of art to get into it; the other two bedrooms had iron hospital beds."

At this time the land next to the church was open land where the PWD kept their tar barrels and goats browsed - occasionally. trespassing into the church house garden and eating all the rosemary bushes.

Things have changed a little since the Revd Matthews' day! The house has been modernised, the wood burning stoves long gone. All the rooms of the house have been fitted with air conditioning/heating units and the kitchen recently renovated. The land around the church is now totally built up and schools and basketballs have taken the place of tar barrels and goats. The garden is now a largely paved area, much appreciated by the congregation who enjoy the hospitality of the Chaplain and his wife on numerous occasions.

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