The exact footprint of the medieval church that preceded the present church is not completely clear, but it is likely that it was fairly near the current site, as a cannon was fired from the church tower towards the castle during the 1643 siege.

Unfortunately, the stone from which many of the headstones are made weathers badly, making it difficult to read the inscriptions, but the Herefordshire Family History Society made a list of all the legible names in the churchyard in 2011, obtainable from www.herefordshirefhs.org.uk.

The land around the church was closed for burials at the end of the 19th century, and a new space near the school was used instead.

As well as being a place of worship, every parish church in England has been required to keep records of baptisms, marriages and funerals since 1538. Not all registers survive, but where they do, they can be an invaluable source of information for people wanting to trace their family history.

The earliest surviving register for Brampton Bryan was started in 1598, and ended, not surprisingly, at the time of the siege, in 1643, with a tragic sentence recording the destruction of the village. It said "Edward, the son of John & Margaret Taylor was baptised the 11th of June 1643 which was the last that was baptised before the church and the towne was burnt." A new register was started in 1663, beginning with the name of Helen Peirson.

Registers can tell us a lot about social history, such as birth and death rates, outbreaks of infectious disease that killed many people in a short space of time, numbers of children born outside marriage, and even literacy rates. By the 18th century, brides and grooms were expected to sign the marriage register. The register for St Barnabas in 1781 shows that when Martha Lingen married Thomas Crump on 7th May 1781, Martha and one of the witnesses, William Meredith, were unable to sign their names, marking instead with a cross.

The parish registers for Brampton Bryan are now kept in Herefordshire Archive & Records Centre.