Church Of St Joseph

The Church of St Joseph is a Roman Catholic church built between 1885 and 1886 by architect A.E. Purdie. It is constructed from sandstone rubble and features slate roofs, designed in the Early English style. The church has a nave flanked by north and south aisles, with a porch and turret at the west end of the north aisle, and a diagonal porch and apsidal chapel at the west end of the south aisle. The chancel is two bays long and also has north and south aisles.

On the exterior, the five-bay nave is supported by pilaster-buttresses and includes one quatrefoil clerestory window in each bay. The buttressed west gable features five lancets leading to an internal narthex, a west window with four unequal lancet lights, a spherical-triangle in the gable, and gable coping topped with an apex cross. A large full-height gabled porch is attached to the north-west corner, which includes a tall octagonal bell-turret. The porch has a large two-centred arch with shafts and four orders of moulding, along with a traceried tympanum above a pair of doorways. The turret has staggered lancets, likely for a spiral staircase, louvred belfry lancets, and a slated spire with swept eaves. On the south side, an apsidal chapel projects from the second bay of the aisle, and the west angle is filled by a diagonal porch that features a doorway in a similar but simpler style to the north porch, along with an embattled parapet. The full-height chancel has a stepped triple-lancet east window.

Inside, the church features aisle arcades supported by cylindrical columns with moulded caps and moulded two-centred arches. The roof is an arch-braced scissor-truss design with wind-braced purlins, carried on short wall colonnettes with carved caps. There is a three-bay arcaded west narthex with a gallery above, which has brattished coping. The tall two-centred chancel arch is supported by clustered shafts and features a moulded arch. The chancel itself is two bays long and has two-bay north and south arcades, along with an elaborate carved marble and alabaster reredos.