Roman Catholic Church of St Joseph and St Etheldreda is a Grade II listed building in the Cannock Chase local planning authority area, England. First listed on 21 June 1995. Church.
Roman Catholic Church of St Joseph and St Etheldreda
- WRENN ID
- keen-corner-holly
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Cannock Chase
- Constituency
- Cannock Chase MP: Josh Newbury (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 21 June 1995
- Type
- Church
- Address
- Roman Catholic Church of St Joseph and St Etheldreda, Lichfield Street, Rugeley
- OS grid reference
- SK 046 179
- Coordinates
- 52.75887, -1.93305
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Roman Catholic Church of St Joseph and St Etheldreda, built between 1849 and 1850 by Charles Hansom, is constructed from sandstone ashlar and features plain tile roofs with stone coped gable-ends. The church has a plan that includes a six-bay nave with north and south aisles, a chancel, a Lady chapel on the north side of the chancel, a vestry on the south side of the chancel, north and south porches, and a west tower. It is designed in the Decorated style.
The exterior of the nave includes small two-light clerestorey windows and low aisles with two-light windows, separated by weathered buttresses. The gabled north and south porches have moulded arches and statue niches. The taller Lady chapel on the north side of the chancel features larger three-light windows. A large five-light east window displays foiled rose tracery. The prominent west tower has diagonal buttresses, a stair-turret with a pinnacle, a trefoil balustrade with small pinnacles, and a tall octagonal stone spire adorned with lucarnes and thin flying buttresses, topped with a weather-cock.
The interior remains intact, although the walls have been painted over the original decoration. The original roofs, including the painted chancel and Lady Chapel roofs, are unaltered. The church features six-bay arcades with compound piers, moulded capitals, and double-chamfered two-centred arches, along with a tall chancel arch. Notable interior elements include the original High Altar, Sedilia, and Piscina, an elaborate Lady Altar from 1880, a five-light east window with four lights by Hardman and a centre light by Wailes, a Hardman window from 1860 in the Lady Chapel, and a fine wrought-iron memorial screen from 1860.
Local climate
Roman Catholic Church of St Joseph and St Etheldreda receives an average of 820 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 53% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 68% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 40 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 77% of listed buildings. Of these, 20 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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