The building became a Catholic church only in the late 1960s, having started life in the 1860s as a Nonconformist chapel. Although much altered, the building is of local historical interest.

St Joseph’s was built in the 1860s as a Congregational chapel. It was converted for use as a Catholic church in the late 1960s. Prior to having their own church, the Catholics of Kirkby Lonsdale travelled to Hornby (qv).

Description

The church is four-bay rectangular-shaped stone building, with a slate roof. The wall is punctuated by four large, round-headed windows with wooden frames and leaded, plain glass. The interior is a single volume, with the sanctuary at one end and a 1960s partition at the other. The latter forms a small porch and storage area. The plain painted and panelled ceiling slopes up from the walls to form a flat ceiling above the central aisle. The walls are plain – plastered and painted – and unadorned apart from Stations of the Cross which came from a private chapel south of Lancaster. There is a wooden floor, wooden pews, c1960s light fittings and a modern stone altar.

The adjoining presbytery is a three-storey, stone-built house which tapers towards the point where Back Lane forks into two. It may have been built at the same time as the Congregational chapel, but is much altered.

Entry amended by AHP 18.12.2020

Heritage Details