Church Of St Joseph (Roman Catholic)

The Church of St Joseph is a Roman Catholic church built between 1885 and 1887, designed by Edward Simpson. It was altered around 1935-37 and extended in 1964 by J H Langtry-Langton. The church is constructed of coursed stone with ashlar dressings and has slate roofs, all executed in a Gothic Revival style. It comprises a nave and chancel under a single roof, with aisles and double transepts.

The west front features a single-story lean-to porch added in 1964, with a triangular-headed doorway flanked by single three-light mullion windows. The west gable has a broad central lancet window with cusped tracery and flanking shafts topped with carved figures under canopies, either side of a central crucifixion. Flanking lower, narrower lancets also have cusped tracery. The north aisle terminates to the west in a half-octagonal baptistery, with a gable over each face, each containing a circular window with six tracery cusps, and two square openings below containing quatrefoils. The south aisle ends in an original porch, intended as the base for a tower, with a pointed arched entrance doorway.

The nave has three pairs of clerestory windows on each side, with no windows below. Each window consists of two plain lancets and a linking quatrefoil. The double transepts also have similar two-light windows with lower tracery and a linking mandala or vesica. The chancel has three lancet windows to the north and two to the south. The east end features a large central pointed arched window with two lights and a linking mandala.

The interior contains a tall and broad chancel arch. The nave features two double-chamfered and pointed arched arcades, supported on octagonal piers to the south and a similar three-arched arcade to the north. There is a shallow, low arch to the western porch. The transepts have tall, double-arched arcades. The nave, chancel, and aisles have fine quality decorative timber roofs. Large painted ‘stations of the cross’ adorn the upper sections of the aisle walls. The original organ, wooden pews, and carved stone reredos with five figures under a later carved wooden canopy remain. Floors, a communion rail, and choir stalls were replaced in 1937 to mark the building’s Golden Jubilee. There are figures of saints under canopies. Three side chapels have marble altars added in 1937. The church is a fine example of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, notable for its interesting and high-quality later alterations and additions.