An ambitious Italian Romanesque design of the 1920s by J.S. Brocklesby. Much of the interior decoration was carried out by local volunteers under the supervision of Gordon Forsyth, director of the local School of Art. The painting of Christ Pantocrator in the apse is a fine work by Moira Forsyth. The church is an important local landmark in an area of deprivation. 

A mission including Burslem, Smallthorne, and Wolstanton was established from Cobridge in 1895. At first Mass was said at the Hill Top Pottery in Liverpool Road (now Westport Road). In 1896 land was acquired for £1,800 in Hall Street and a two-storey school-cum-church built on it in 1897-8 (the church was on the upper floor). The presbytery followed in 1902-3.

Fundraising for a new church to be built on an adjoining site began in the early 1920s. The foundation stone was laid 17 September 1925 and the church opened on 14 June 1927. It was built from designs by the noted Arts and Crafts architect John Sydney Brocklesby (1879-1955), who also designed the impressive Sacred Heart, Tunstall (qv). Encouraged by the parish priest, the Rev. William Browne, the decoration and stained glass work was, as at Tunstall, carried out by young people of the parish under the guidance of Gordon Forsyth, director of the Burslem School of Art, and following his designs. He established stained glass training in the Wedgwood Institute in Queen Street, and arranged other classes for his pupils; four windows had been completed by May 1927. Forsyth’s daughter Moira (d. 1991) designed and painted the murals in the sanctuary (completed c.1937, restored 1992). After the opening of the church, work on its embellishment continued for some ten years. Apart from work undertaken by local people, the parish priest Fr Browne enriched the building with furnishings acquired abroad, hence the Stations of the Cross from Oberammergau and, no doubt, the della Robbia-influenced panel of the Madonna del Sedia in the Lady Chapel. Consecration took place in June 1937.

Description

The church was upgraded to II* in 2016, following Taking Stock. For a full description, see the revised list entry at ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OF ST JOSEPH, FRONT WALLS AND STEPS, Non Civil Parish – 1297960 | Historic England

Heritage Details