Barnes
Barnes is a district inside the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is inside the north east of the borough and is positioned 5.8 miles west south west of Charing Cross.
Barnes has a lot of eighteenth centu and nineteenth century buildings in the streets close to Barnes Pond, which make up Barnes Village conservation area where the majority of the mid-19th century buildings sit. On the east riverside, there's the WWT London Wetland Centre which adjoins a number of fields for three main national team sports.
The town was once part of Surrey, and it appears within the Domesday book as ‘Berne’. Barnes’ village church was built between 1100 and 1150 and named the Chapel of St Mary’s. It was extended in the early thirteenth century, and was added to once again in 1786. A big fire destroyed parts of the extensions to the church in 1978, so restoration work was performed in 1984.
Barnes includes a large amount 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 in the time of Mulcaster it was situated in St Paul’s Cathedral. The town includes a non-league football club known as 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 utilised for the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.
