St Joseph – Aberdare

Introduction

St Joseph – Aberdare is a neo-Romanesque church in Aberdare, built 1866-8 to designs of Benjamin Bucknall of Swansea at a cost of £1,100. The church was opened on 3 October 1868 by the Right Rev. Bishop Brown of Newport and Menevia.

History

Stained glass by Hardman & Co of Birmingham was added to the Sacred Heart chapel in 1910 in honour of Sr Gonzaga. The builder of the church was Mr Richards of Aberdare. The baptistery has been converted to an entrance and the original plaster ceiling of the nave has been removed.

Architecture and furnishings

The church has an aisleless nave with polygonal side chapel, W baptistery, square ended sanctuary with additions. The interior has a nave of 3-bays with timber boarded barrel vaulted roof. The former baptistery, used as an entrance porch, has a stained glass window of St John the Evangelist. The sacristy has a baroque brass and marble holy water stoup and hinged doors with repoussé reliefs of the Annunciation, a baptism, knights receiving Holy Communion, and ordinations.

The church is built of randomly coursed stone with yellow sandstone dressings and a slate roof. The gable entrance to the southeast has a central round arched double ordered doorway with a Gibbs head and panelled pilasters. The doorway adjacent to the church door has a pointed trefoil-headed entrance with carved reliefs of the heads of Our Lord and Our Lady on the capitals. The sanctuary at the west end has a gabled roof and a central circular window divided into four lights.

The narthex at the east end has a stair to the southwest leading to a full width gallery. The sanctuary is raised by two steps and has a forward altar of marble with an applied relief of the Last Supper. The Sacred Heart chapel is raised on a single step with decorative steel and brass railings and a gate with a painted central Sacred Heart panel. Painted copper panels of unknown date and artist, originally part of the high altar, have been relocated to the liturgical east wall of the sanctuary.

Music and liturgy

The church is clustered with those at Mountain Ash and Hirwaun and is served from the former, maintaining the historic connection of these communities.

Sacraments and pastoral care

The parish of Mary Immaculate includes the churches of Our Lady of Lourdes in Mountain Ash, St Joseph in Aberdare and St Therese of Lisieux in Hirwaun.

Visiting

The mission established by Rev. Augustine Neary in 1854 served Treforest, Mountain Ash, Hirwaun and Ferndale. Under the gallery, the confessional has coloured stained glass doors in Art Deco style.