St Joseph's Church

St Joseph's Church

This Roman Catholic church is aligned north-east to south-west, set back from Moreton Road with a car park to the south-west and gardens to the south-east.

The church is built in a Gothic Revival style, featuring a prominent south-west tower with flanking baptistery and enclosed porch. The tower is in three stages with near full-height, stepped clasping buttresses and a stylised, crenellated parapet. At ground floor level, a tall, pinnacled stone doorcase houses a wide doorway with timber two-panel double doors incorporating small paired slender glazed upper lights, three small Tudor-arched lights above, and a blind cusped arcade to the top. The belfry stage contains a large open four-light window with louvres, styled similarly to the doorway below with paired Tudor-arched inner lights flanked by single outer lights. The tower's side returns have near full-height gableted buttresses set to the rear, with two-light cusped and ogee-arched windows to the second stage and matching two-light belfry windows.

Two single-storey flat-roofed projections flank the tower. The north-west projection formerly contained a baptistery, whilst the south-east comprises an enclosed entrance porch with a carved stone door surround containing doors identical to the front entrance, a carved shield above, and a raised parapet with cross finial. Small single leaded lights pierce the south-west ends of each projection.

The nave is lit by tall two-light windows with cusped ogee-arched heads. Full-height projections at each end of the nave on both sides contain side chapels to the north-east (which project further and are lit by shorter three-light windows with cusped ogee-arched heads to both the north-east and south-west sides) and shallow shrine projections to the south-west (with windows to the south-east walls matching those of the nave). Projections on each side of the nave are separated by single-storey flat-roofed sections containing confessionals and lit by two very small lights. The sanctuary features side windows matching those of the nave and shrine projections.

Three flat-roofed, inter-linked sacristies wrap around the sanctuary to three sides, lit by single and two-light mullioned windows. A plain rear doorway to the east corner contains a three-panel door. A chimney rises from the north-east corner of the north side chapel. All windows throughout the church feature plain leaded glazing.

The interior features identical styled double and single doors to those externally. Blue Horton stone dado approximately eight feet high runs around all walls except in the sacristies and choir gallery, with pale plastered walls above. A brown and buff patterned quarry tile floor (now covered by later flooring) extends through the nave and narthex, whilst sacristies have parquet floors and the sanctuary is finished in travertine marble.

The north-west side of the narthex contains an enclosed former baptistery, now used as a small shop. A narrow doorway to the south corner of the narthex accesses a stone spiral stair leading to a large choir and organ gallery above the narthex. The gallery features a wide camel-vaulted arch to the front, tiered seating and original pews, with a plain balcony front with stone copings. The stair continues upward into an empty tower room above.

The nave contains two confessionals set to the centre of each side wall and original pews. Large camel-vaulted arches open to the shrine projections, side chapels, and sanctuary. The sanctuary is accessed via three steps and features a marble altar and plain timber lectern to the front. An original stepped altar platform stands to the rear with a large marble and carved wooden reredos (originally gilded, now painted white). An original damask panel that formerly occupied the centre of the reredos has been removed. Doors in the side chapels and one to the south-east side of the sanctuary provide access to the sacristies.

A detached presbytery to the north-east of the church is not of special interest.