Barnes is a district inside the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It's in the north east of the borough and is positioned 9.3 km west south west of Charing Cross.
Barnes has a great deal of 18th and 1800s buildings in the streets close to Barnes Pond, which make up Barnes Village conservation area exactly where the majority of the mid-19th century buildings sit. On the east riverside, there's the WWT London Wetland Centre which adjoins many fields for three primary national team sports.
The town had been part of Surrey, and it appears inside the Domesday book as ‘Berne’. Barnes’ village church was constructed in between 1100 and 1150 and named the Chapel of St Mary’s. It was extended during the early thirteenth century, and was added to again in 1786. A big fire destroyed parts of the extensions to the chapel in 1978, so restoration work was done in 1984.
Barnes features a lot of sporting history spanning decades. In football, a High Master of St Paul’s School, Richard Mulcaster, is recognised with turning mob football into a refereed team sport. The school sits on Lonsdale Road, but at the time of Mulcaster it was located in St Paul’s Cathedral. The town features a non-league football team called Stonewall FC, who play at Barn Elms Playing Fields.
Barnes Rugby Club is believed to be the oldest club in the world in any football code. They play next to the WWT London Wetlands Centre. The town is also known for rowing; the loop of the Thames surrounding Barnes is a part of the Championship Course used for the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.