A curiosity, being a Victorian farmhouse converted to church use. The two stained glass windows in the sanctuary are of some interest.

St Joseph’s unusually was converted from a double-fronted Victorian farmhouse. The disused house was purchased in 1926, together with about an acre of Land, as a Mass centre to serve Catholics in the area, about two miles from St Wilfrid’s on The Boulevard. The house was repaired and cared for by a family who lived there. Around 1930 a hall was built next door and a presbytery was built soon after the war. The house was converted to the church and opened on 16 May 1952.

Description

The proportions of the church alone give away its origin as a farmhouse. The plain rectangle, with overhanging hipped roof, has been extended with a narthex across the west front and a polygonal sanctuary at the east end. The walls are rendered and have sloping Voyseyesque buttresses. To either side are three tall round-arched windows, two smaller high-level windows to the west and the sanctuary has two smaller similar windows again. The frames are mostly renewed in uPVC. The narthex has mostly round-headed windows and doors. Broad west entrance with deeply stepped surround in red brick. The narthex has a flat roof and a parapet, raised up into a gable above the entrance.

Apart from the crucifix over the entrance the external appearance of the building is more redolent of a Nonconformist chapel than a Catholic church. The interior has a round-headed sanctuary arch with moulded architrave. The west gallery projects into one third of the nave space. The fittings and furnishings are generally unexceptional, though there are two stained glass windows in the sanctuary of merit,St Joseph and Our Lady, in a naïve style with bold flat colouring and a strong pattern of lead cames. Their date or authorship has not been established.

Heritage Details