Barishal
A tall red-brick church from the early 20th century, built by the Anglican Oxford Mission in the middle of Barishal city, with quiet, tree-shaded grounds.
The Oxford Mission is an Anglican mission that came to Bengal from Oxford in the late 19th century and set up a base in Barishal, running a church, schools and charitable work. Its church, the Church of the Epiphany, was completed in the early 1900s and is known to everyone in the city simply as the Oxford Mission Church.
The building is a tall, plain and dignified red-brick church, its long nave lit by rows of arched windows, standing in large grounds with lawns, trees and a pond. It is one of the most striking colonial-era buildings in southern Bangladesh.
The mission still works here, and the church remains a place of worship for Barishal’s Christian community.
If you arrived by launch, start with breakfast near the ghat as the city wakes up.
Ask at the gate, then see the red-brick church and its quiet grounds.
Walk the city’s main street and stop for tea and sweets.
End by the river, watching launches and boats come and go.
October to March, in the morning or late afternoon; avoid service times unless you have come to worship
Inside Barishal city, a short rickshaw or auto-rickshaw ride from Sadar Road or the launch ghat.
