Roman Catholic Church of St Joseph

Details

1809/0/10020
25-MAY-07


THORNEYHOLME TERRACE
ST JOSEPH'S RC CHURCH


(Formerly listed as: THORNEYHOLME TERRACE
ST JOSEPH'S RC CHURCH AND PRESBYTERY)


II


Roman Catholic church. 1898-1902 by Charles Walker. Built in Gothic Revival style of local coursed rusticated white sandstone with ashlar dressings. The pillars and shafting are in Galloway red sandstone; pitch pine roof.
PLAN: Nave and apsidal chancel under a single roof of slate, with apsidal side chapels, projecting baptistery and porch on north and south sides at west end.
EXTERIOR: The chancel is a five-sided apse with a hipped roof and an eaves cornice and is lit by five lancet windows set within full height shallow segmental pointed arches. The foundation stone of the church, recording the date 1899, is set in the east wall of the chancel. The side chapels are 5-sided apses under conical roofs and are lit by three lancet windows. The transepts are gabled with angled buttresses and single 3-light window with geometric tracery and sill band; plain hood mould with carved representations of heads for stops. The south transept is surmounted by a carved cross. The nave has six bays and an eaves cornice; paired multifoil windows in the west bay, and single lancet windows with geometrical tracery and drip mouldings between buttresses in other bays. The main entrance is on the south front through a gabled porch in the west bay of the nave. A multiple chamfered pointed arch with hood mould and carved stops springs from plain splayed reveals; it contains paired doors with carved rectilinear tracery to door and fanlight above. The main entrance is flanked to the right by a pointed arch window comprised of three trefoil-headed lights, the hood mould continued around the main door. South porch has continuous hood and drip moulds with carved heads as stops and blind arcade on left return. The west end of the nave contains an elaborate wheel window with radiating tracery set within a shallow pointed arch on two pillars of red sandstone and flanked by buttresses with blind arcading below. It is surmounted by a carved cross.
INTERIOR: The pentagonal chancel with wooden vaulted ceiling has a pointed Gothic arch carried on red sandstone pillars; three of its five lancets contain stained glass by the Munich firm Mayer and Co. depicting the "Sacred Heart", St. Thomas a'Beckett and St. George and the Dragon. The rerodos depicts "The Last Supper" and "Thomas Meeting Jesus" and is flanked by matching oak panelling with applied Gothic tracery. The centrally placed altar bears the tabernacle with a Crucifix above. The Sacred Heart Chapel to the left has three stained glass lancet windows. This chapel is a memorial to the fallen of the First World War in the form of an altar, rerodos and matching oak panelling throughout; a brass tablet on the left wall of the chapel records the names of the fallen. The Lady Chapel is to the right with three stained glass lancet windows contains an altar with reredos containing a carved wooden Madonna, and matching panelling. Three light windows in the north and south transepts are filled with a Crucifixion scene and Christ in glory surrounded by the Saints by Mayer and Co. and the south transept contains the original organ re-sited in 1908. The plain nave with terrazzo floor bears the Stations of the Cross along both walls; double pointed arches at east end supported centrally on a red sandstone pillar carry the nave wall across the transepts. The pews are largely open backed benches with ornate bench fronts surmounted by carved wooden fleur-de-lys. The pitch pine vaulted roof is supported on a decorative timber blind arcade and is braced with metal ties across the nave.
Ornately carved wooden west gallery with panels of Gothic tracery separated by plain stiles with moulded sill below. The west window of stained glass is of wheel form with radiating tracery; at its centre is a depiction of the Crucifixion with Our Lady and St. John. There are two three-light windows below. Opposing openings at west end of the nave lead into the baptistery and south porch; the baptistery is shielded by an ornately carved screen designed by M. Zens of Ghent with white marble statues of St. Theresa and St. Joseph to the front. The west porch is entered through paired doors with rectilinear applied tracery; a Holy Water stoup is set into the wall to the right of the doors.
The attached presbytery is not of special interest and does not form part of the listing.
SOURCES: St. Joseph's Church Stanley 1902-2002; The Buildings of England County Durham Pevsner, N. (2nd edition revised by Elizabeth Williamson 1983 p 432)

HISTORY: In order to fulfil the needs of the expanding Catholic population of Stanley, land was acquired in 1892 for the construction of a presbytery and church adjacent to the school of 1873; the presbytery was completed in 1893 and the foundation stone for the church was laid in 1899. St. Joseph's Church, accommodating 650 people, was completed in 1902 at a cost of £6000 and it was consecrated in 1928. The stained glass was mostly provided by Mayer & Co of Munich, a firm working on an international scale at this time and who had achieved the status of a "Pontificial Institute of Christian Art" by Pope Leo XIII in 1892. Soon after completion, large cracks were noted in the fabric of the church, believed to be subsidence caused by underground mine workings. In 1911, some restoration work was carried out to the nave and presbytery, but the instability in the church fabric remained. After the First World War, plans to erect a tower as a memorial to the fallen were shelved in favour of an altar which was inserted into the Sacred Heart Chapel. In 1922, a settlement of £2300 was agreed with regard to damage caused by subsidence. This allowed the repair of the north transept window, several nave windows and the replacement of parts of the transept walls. Following the Second Vatican Council, minor changes to the church interior were made in order to accommodate the Roman Catholic New Liturgy; these included the installation of a moveable altar facing the congregation, the removal of altar rails, side screens and the pulpit.

This Roman Catholic church of 1898 -1902 retains its historic setting of adjacent cemetery, near-contemporary school and presbytery. It is of special architectural interest as a Gothic Revival church, which was designed with an overall high level of architectural quality, including a collection of stained glass by Mayer & Co. of Munich. This is enhanced by the survival of a little altered interior with good quality fixtures and fittings; the deft detailing of the woodwork, manifest in the elaboration of the rerodos, the roofing and west gallery in particular, is noteworthy. The quality of design, execution and decoration, combined with relatively low levels of alteration mean that this church fully meets the criteria for listing in a national context.

Listing NGR: NZ1961052953

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

502265

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: County Durham, (1983), 432

End of official list entry

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