Church of St Joseph and adjoining presbytery

Church of St Joseph and adjoining presbytery

Roman Catholic church and adjoining presbytery built between 1879 and 1881, designed by M.E Hadfield & Son for the 15th Duke of Norfolk. The nave was extended and the west front rebuilt between 1956 and 1957 by Hadfield, Cawkwell & Davidson. The buildings are constructed of coursed squared stone with ashlar dressings and plain tile roofs, executed in the Gothic Revival style.

The church comprises a chancel with crypt, Lady chapel and organ chamber, a nave, a north aisle, and a south porch. Windows throughout feature pointed arch panel tracery.

Exterior

The chancel is a single bay, with a three-light window to the north and a five-light window to the east, both with hoodmoulds. To the south is a two-light window, flanked to the left by a priest's door with a small two-light window above it, also with a hoodmould. The gable is topped with a cross. The crypt has two windows to the east and a doorway with a window above to the north, all with moulded surrounds.

The nave has four three-light windows to the south, all with hoodmoulds. The west end features a gable with a wrought-iron finial and a three-light window with hoodmould. Below is a moulded ashlar doorcase with a Tudor arched double door and label mould, flanked by single flat-headed windows.

The south porch is steeply gabled with a double chamfered doorway with wrought-iron gates and a slit window above. To the left is a flat-headed window, and to the right a lean-to projection.

The gabled north aisle has a gabled buttress to the north-east, topped with a figure in a niche. The east end features a traceried four-light window with hoodmould and below, two flat-headed windows with moulded surrounds. The north side has, from east to west, a three-light window, a four-light window, and four three-light windows, all with hoodmoulds. The west gable is blank.

A plinth, buttresses, string course, sillband, and coped gables run throughout the building.

To the south-east, adjoining the presbytery, is a single storey corridor with two stone mullioned cross casements and a square extruded corner. Steps lead to the presbytery door, with monolithic balustrades, and a round-arched board door beneath a gabled stone canopy on brackets.

The presbytery is a two-storey structure with a three-window range in a T-plan. It has coped gables and parapets, with gable and side wall stacks featuring lozenge-shaped stone flues, and a side wall stack with square flues. The projecting central gable contains a three-light stone mullioned window. To its left, at the angle, is a Decorated style niche with a figure and nodding ogee canopy. Above this is a single small casement, and below a three-light stone mullioned cross casement. To the left is a single bay with a coped parapet and small sash above a stone mullioned cross casement. To the right is a set-back bay with a coped garden wall and board door, linked to a lean-to outbuilding with a garage door.

Interior

The chancel has a double chamfered arch with responds and an arch braced wagon roof with bosses. The east end contains a stained glass window from 1950 and a Perpendicular style ashlar reredos from 1949. To the south are a cusped piscina and small sedilia.

The nave features an arch braced wagon roof with wall shafts and corbels, and a sillband. A five-bay north arcade has double chamfered arches dying into chamfered columns with crenellated responds. The western arch contains a resited wooden rood. At the west end is a smaller, more pointed arch opening to the baptistry, with a screen wall containing central double doors flanked by single windows with wooden surrounds. Above this is a panelled wooden gallery. The font has been resited in the north aisle.

The Lady chapel has a similar roof to the chancel and a ramped coped screen wall flanking the altar steps. To its left are a gate and shouldered double doors opening to the crypt. The east end has a mid-20th century stained glass window. To the south is a cusped piscina and a pointed arched opening with traceried screens from 1929.

The north aisle has a similar roof to the nave. At the east end is a double chamfered arch, and at the west end a moulded segmental pointed arch to the baptistry, fitted with wrought-iron gates.

The presbytery contains four stained glass panels from 1905 by F Nicolas of Roermond.

Church fittings include a lobed ashlar font and open benches with framed ends.