Church Of St Joseph With Number 11 (Attached Presbytery)

This is a Roman Catholic church with an attached presbytery, built in 1878 by Goldie and Child. The church is located on Caroline Street, Wigan, and stands at an angle to the street. It is constructed with yellow brick at ground floor level, brown brick above, and red and blue brick dressings on the side walls. The roof is slate-covered. The building is in the Early English style.

The church's facade has three gabled windows. A tall, two-centred arched window with plate tracery and a central mullion, featuring a statue in a niche, is flanked by tall lancet windows. The gable has corner pinnacles, blind arcading, two small lancets, and a large, idiosyncratic bellcote with a steep mansard roof. The side walls feature stepped three-light windows. A moulded brick arched doorway is located in the front of the south aisle. The presbytery's three-storey, two-window facade features a doorway to the right and segmental-headed sash windows without glazing bars; those to the upper floors are set within a giant blind arch.

Inside the church, there is a gallery to the south-west (the main entrance). The nave has six bays with low north and south aisles, and a sanctuary with side chapels, the north-west chapel containing a choir loft (now filled in). The nave arcades have circular columns and stepped pointed arches. A canted, square, panelled front to the gallery is supported on slender iron columns, with an ornate, jettied substructure. A simple staircase is located on the south-east side. The sanctuary contains an onyx altar rail decorated with cusped ball flower ornament. A three-stage stone altar has an onyx front and a tabernacle at the rear. A timber reredos, consisting of five panels with a central crocketed pinnacle, is also present. Timber screen panels of four lights are found in the arched openings leading into the Lady Chapel to the north-west, and a similar six-light screen to the north-east. The roof is a triple-purlin design supported by arch-braced trusses.