Architect: A. W. Pugin. St Barnabas church was built through the initiative of Fr. Robert Willson, later Bishop of Tasmania. It was opened in 1844, and upon the restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy in England in 1850 it became the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Nottingham. A 'Gothic church in the lancet style', it was considered one of the best specimens of Pugin's designs. Pugin himself, however, considered it spoilt by lancet windows which made it too dark and were inappropriate for a city church. It became known familiarly as 'the tunnel'. The interior was richly patterned in jewel-bright colours and gold-leaf. In 1993 the Cathedral was re-decorated mainly in white, with many of the features of Pugin's original design being restored, notably in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.
