From its beginning in 1852, industrially Earlsdon was well catered for, but until the Methodists opened their chapel in the old weaving shed in 1873, there was no place of worship. The estate was part of the parish of St Michael (later the Cathedral), in the ‘care’ of St Thomas’s Church in the Butts, whose curate attended to the spiritual needs of Earlsdon residents.
It was not until the arrival of the Reverend Eric Farrar in 1893 that any evidence of Anglican activity in Earlsdon appears, when he set up a mission and Sunday School in the new day school on Earlsdon Avenue North. The construction of Albany Road in 1897 made communication easier, while at the same time the population growth made the need for a new church more urgent. The Methodists had already taken the prime corner site on Albany Road and Earlsdon Avenue South, so the Anglicans looked to a plot on the corner of Palmerston Road and Rochester Road.
A committee was formed in 1910, local architect T I R Meakin was appointed, and construction began in 1912. The building was finished and dedicated on 4 December 1913 — St Barbara’s Day — and the dedication to that saint followed naturally from the date.
By 1922 Earlsdon had qualified as a parish in its own right, and the congregation was outgrowing the building. A new site was found at the corner of Rochester Road and Beechwood Avenue, and the new St Barbara’s was opened on 26 September 1931. The old church became a church hall until 1971, then office space, before eventual demolition and replacement with flats.