St Joseph, Wath-upon-Dearne

Introduction

St Joseph, Wath-upon-Dearne, in the Diocese of Hallam, was opened on 1 May 1879 by Bishop Cornthwaite of Leeds. The church was designed in the Perpendicular Gothic style by M.E. Hadfield & Son, architects of Sheffield.

History

In 1876 Father Charles James Locke wrote to the Bishop of Beverley suggesting that a church be built at Wath. Mrs. Margaret Cadman proposed converting a billiard room in her garden into a chapel for the Catholic community. The church was financed by the Cadman family and the Nicholson family. The reordering in 1981 was carried out by Ormsby of Scarisbrick.

Architecture and furnishings

The church was built to accommodate 300. The nave is laid with blue and red Staffordshire quarries and the chancel has Goodwin's encaustic tiles, which have been carpeted over. A high altar and reredos were added in 1886. The reredos contains Beer-stone niches with statues of Saint Peter and Saint Joseph, and panels depicting the deaths of Saint Joseph and the Blessed Virgin.

Beneath the Tabernacle is a sculpture of the dead Christ carved in polished white alabaster by Frank Tory, a student of the Sheffield School of Art. The rest of the reredos was carved by Mr. Wall of Cheltenham from drawings under the supervision of Hadfield of Sheffield. The church's design resembles that of St Joseph's at Handsworth, drawing on late fifteenth century churches in the area. Lavers, Barraud, and Westlake made the eastern window and the two side windows.

A large stone carved font with an oak spire shaped cover stood in the north west corner of the nave until the 1981 reordering removed it. Frank Tory also carved the figure of St Peter.

Music and liturgy

Oak benches or choir stalls in the interior were removed when the church was reordered in 1981. The eastern window was a gift of Miss Cadman (Mrs. Gerrard Young) as the inscription records.