Barnes
Barnes is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is within the north east of the borough and is positioned 5.8 miles west south west of Charing Cross.
Barnes has a lot of 1700s 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 are found. On the east riverside, there's the WWT London Wetland Centre which adjoins a number of fields for three primary national team sports.
The town used to be a part of Surrey, and it appears within the Domesday book as ‘Berne’. Barnes’ village church was built in 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 chapel in 1978, so restoration work was done in 1984.
Barnes has 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 in the time of Mulcaster it was positioned in St Paul’s Cathedral. The town has a non-league football club called Stonewall FC, who play at Barn Elms Playing Fields.
Barnes Rugby Club is assumed 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 recognised for rowing; the loop of the Thames surrounding Barnes is a part of the Championship Course utilised for the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.