St Joseph

Introduction

St Joseph's Church in Weymouth, part of the Our Lady Star of the Sea parish in the Diocese of Plymouth, was built in 1933-4 and designed by George Drysdale in a Romanesque style. The church is a good example of an inter-war church embodying the late flowering of Arts and Crafts principles combined with Romanesque style.

History

St Joseph's was designed by the architect George Drysdale (1881-1949) who set up in partnership with Leonard Stokes in 1919. A marble altar was added in 1937, replacing a temporary wooden one. A Lourdes grotto was erected in the garden in 1949 as a thanks offering for the church having been spared from damage during the Second World War. The parish prepares young people in school year 9 and above for Confirmation through sessions at the church and a retreat.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is built of brick with dressings of cast concrete and some limestone, and the roofs are clad in Cornish slate. The interior includes an altar of white marble with an inset panel of veined yellow marble dating from 1937. The church has an octagonal stone font. In the small side garden on the east side of the church is the Lourdes grotto; a war memorial built of rubble stone and surmounted by a statue of the Virgin Mary.

The church has a linear plan comprising a nave with narthex, baptistery and narrow circulation aisles, and a chancel. The liturgical west front has an entrance of paired timber doors beneath a canopy supported on heavy consoles. Above the canopy is a large IHS monogram in relief. The belfry stage is topped by an open pediment housing a single bell and surmounted by a cross.

The side elevations have six two-light round-headed lancets in the clerestorey. The nave has an exposed queen strut roof with additional angled struts. The arcade comprises two broad, pointed arches flanked by lower, rounded-headed arches, carried on rectangular piers. The chancel roof is barrel-vaulted and has a curved east wall.

The church has an organ of classical design. The church has simple pine pews and parquet flooring. The parish holds a CAFOD Lent Family Fast Day.