Church of St Joseph, Newbury

Church of St Joseph, Newbury

Roman Catholic church built 1926-1928 to designs by W C Mangan in Italian Byzantine and Romanesque styles. The church is reverse orientated with the chancel at the south-west end.

Materials and Setting

The building is constructed of Daneshill bricks in light and dark brown with black headers in English bond, beneath a Lombardic tile roof. The detached campanile is topped with a copper dome.

Plan and Layout

The church has a cruciform plan with an aisleless nave and narthex to the north-east. The chancel occupies the centre of the crossing with transepts flanking either side, each with side entrances. Behind the chancel are two small chapels flanking a sacristy, all situated beneath a raised choir. The campanile stands detached to the north-west.

Exterior

The church windows are metal-framed and multi-pane, set beneath round-headed arches formed of tile on end or brushed brick. The walls feature a tall plinth, high-set dentil band and decorative tile panels. The roof has deep eaves with exposed rafter feet and purlins, finished with timber bargeboards.

The north-east front is gabled with a triple window flanked by tall recessed pilasters. The timber entrance doors stand beneath a semi-circular porch with sandstone steps and a tiled roof, supported by columns of Verde Corona marble. The porch cornice is composed of Siena, Pavanazzo and Petitor marbles.

The nave has high-set two-light windows in each bay, divided by tall recessed pilasters. The transepts and chancel follow the same form, with gable ends containing three windows above a decorative panel. The rear elevation has multi-pane ground-floor windows beneath flat arches.

The central crossing gable rises prominently with a canted bay to each corner lit by three tall windows, decorated with a tiled fascia and dentil course. Each gable of the crossing has a large lunette window bracketed by paired recessed pilasters beneath a dentil cornice. Above sits a triangular pediment surmounted by a large stone statue of the Sacred Heart.

The campanile is square in plan and rises approximately 30 metres. Ground-floor entry is via a door with small openings lighting the interior stairs. Four high-set louvered openings occupy each face. The ornate belfry has a semi-circular brick balcony to each corner, surmounted by a tall round-headed opening. The other faces feature paired round-headed openings with end-on tile arches separated by a column with Romanesque capital, above a balcony with stone balustrade on console brackets. The fascia and cornice are carved stone, supporting an ornately ribbed dome crowned with a Latin cross.

Interior

The nave walls are of exposed brick carrying the Stations of the Cross. Bays are defined by rendered piers rising to form round-headed arches decorated with chevron moulding. The exposed roof spans nave, transepts and choir in British Columbian pine and oak panels.

The raised sanctuary lies under the crossing, encircled by a processional aisle with high groin-vaulted ceilings and lower corner balconies. Piers and arches are decorated with capitals, end-on tiling, coloured brick and stone detailing. A painted and moulded cornice underlines the curve of the vaulting.

The original high altar is covered by a large baldacchino supported on four Cippolino marble columns with Ionic capitals. The barrel-vaulted canopy features gold mosaic and marble decoration in Siena and Pavanazzo. The communion rail is white marble with colonnaded twin columns of Siena marble and gilded bronze gates. The high altar stands three steps above the sanctuary floor, with a gradine of onyxes and coloured marbles and a gilded bronze tabernacle, with hanging rood figures above. Behind the sanctuary is a raised choir housing an organ by J W Walker and Sons of Brandon, Suffolk. The sacristy is plain and functional.

The east transept contains a painted panel of Jesus, Mary and Joseph set into a brick reredos. The west transept features a later 20th-century grey reredos depicting the Virgin Mary bracketed by angels and set with mirrored discs, above an altar plinth of yellow and black marble.