Church Of St Joseph (Catholic)

Church of St Joseph (Catholic)

A Roman Catholic church with attached presbytery built in 1933-4 on Stavordale Road in Weymouth. It was designed by George Drysdale, the architect who had entered into partnership with Leonard Stokes in 1919 and continued the practice after Stokes' death in 1925 until 1947. The church represents a good example of inter-war ecclesiastical architecture, combining late Arts and Crafts principles with Romanesque styling.

The church is constructed in brick with cast concrete and some limestone dressings, and roofs clad in Cornish slate. The fenestration has been entirely replaced with uPVC frames. It follows a linear plan comprising a nave with narthex, baptistery and narrow circulation aisles, a chancel, a linked sacristy to the south-east, and an attached presbytery on the south side.

The liturgical west front, which faces north-east, features a striking entrance of paired timber doors beneath a canopy supported on heavy consoles. To either side of the doorway is a two-light window with a string course of vetruvian scrollwork. Above the canopy is an ogee copper roof that sweeps up to a circular window set in an octagonal surround with carved stone symbols of the Evangelists arranged in a cruciform pattern. A large IHS monogram in relief crowns this feature. The belfry stage above is slightly narrower, with carved stone consoles and at its centre a blue and white glazed ceramic of the Virgin and Child. The stage is topped by an open pediment housing a single bell and surmounted by a cross. To either side are carved stone or cast concrete blocks bearing sacred monograms. The side elevations present plain, painted brickwork with six two-light round-headed lancets in the clerestorey. A side entrance porch with a hipped roof is located at the east end of the south aisle. The chancel, narrower on its south side, is covered by the continuous roof. The north and south elevations of the chancel each feature a window with Y-tracery set high in the wall.

The attached presbytery is built in matching painted brickwork with a Cornish slate roof, adopting a Free Domestic Revival style with a hipped roof and tall stacks. Though designed by Drysdale as part of the overall scheme, it is unremarkable for its period and of lesser architectural interest.

The interior comprises a small lobby leading into a narthex with an organ and choir gallery above. Above the gallery, the west wall is articulated by three round-headed arches. The nave is a broad, high space with an exposed queen strut roof and additional angled struts. The arcade comprises two broad, pointed arches flanked by lower, rounded-headed arches, carried on rectangular piers of exposed brick with stone capitals. The narrow circulation aisles are windowless with steeply raking roofs and exposed rafters. At the east end of the nave, the chancel arch is framed by an open-bed pediment moulding with further moulded panels to the sides. The chancel roof is barrel-vaulted and the east wall is curved. Framed openings either side of the altar provide access to the back of the gradine, the sacristy, and the presbytery. The side walls of the chancel are further articulated with decorative mouldings framing statue niches and recesses for the sacrament. The furnishings include a white marble altar with an inset panel of veined yellow marble dating from 1937, though it has been detached from its gradine and moved forward; an octagonal stone font; a classical organ; simple pine pews; and parquet flooring.

In a small side garden on the east side of the church stands a Lourdes grotto, a war memorial built of rubble stone and surmounted by a statue of the Virgin Mary. The church itself was spared damage during the Second World War, and the grotto was erected in 1949 as a thanks offering for this deliverance. St Joseph's is one of two Catholic churches in Weymouth. A parish hall was added beyond the presbytery to the south in 1951. The church has changed little since its construction, with the principal alterations being the addition of the marble altar in 1937, replacing an earlier temporary wooden one, and the erection of the Lourdes grotto.