9. Austin House, former Calvinist Chapel, South Bar
Chapel,from the SW..............
This chapel was one of several Baptist chapels in the town and was built in 1834 by Richard Austin, member of a wealthy family of brewers. The congregation had split away in 1813 from the group that met in the New Chapel and had called themselves: “The Friends of the Gospel Separated from the Chapel in Church Passage”. The group were followers of John Calvin a seventeenth century Swiss protestant preacher. The chapel closed in 1852 was sold two years later.
10. St. John's Catholic Church, South Bar
During the seventeenth and eighteen centuries there had been few Catholics in Banbury. In 1802 a French priest, Pierre Hersent, settled in the town and in 1806 a chapel was built at Overthorpe, In 1830 he was joined by Father Joseph Fox by which time the congregation, drawn from local families, was large enough to plan a new church in South Bar. St. John’s was partly designed by the famous architect Augustus Pugin and was opened in 1838 despite opposition from other local churches. Pugin also designed the school and the manse which were added by 1842. The church has remained a centre for Catholic worship ever since.
.....St.John's, shortly after its opening. ,
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11. St. John's Hospital
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St.John's Hospital...................................................................................................13C Crucifix from site of hospital
St.John’s Hospital was founded in the thirteenth century as a hostel for travellers and pilgrims outside the town gate or ‘bar’. It took on the additional function of a school for in 1345 schoolmasters were recorded there and in 1501 one of the best known masters of his day, John Stanbridge, began teaching there. After the Dissolution the site became ruinous and it was not until 1846 that Dr. Tandy opened a day school. This was run by the sisters of the Charity of St. Paul until 1991. Some of the fabric of the present building is late medieval.
12. Ebeneezer Chapel
Chapel now used as a warehouse..................................
Many of the small free churches in Banbury had their origins in a series of meetings of dissenters that took place during the winter of 1772 -73. The congregation grew until various disagreements spawned a number of breakaway groups during the early nineteenth century. One of these was the Calvinistic Baptists who met in West Bar who prospered to the point that in 1877 they were able to build this new gothic chapel in Dashwood Road.