St Joseph's Church, Wool

Introduction

St Joseph's Church in Wool, in the Diocese of Plymouth, was built between 1969 and 1971 to a design by Anthony Jaggard of John Stark & Partners. The church is distinguished by its innovative space-frame roof, which creates a large, open nave and sanctuary.

History

In 1968 Sir Joseph Weld commissioned Anthony Jaggard to design a modern church for the village. The completed church was solemnly blessed on 1 December 1972. Since construction the church has remained almost completely unaltered, apart from slight re-positioning of furnishings, a fixed table for the tabernacle, and replacement of under-floor heating with wall-mounted heaters.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is constructed of handmade brick in English bond and shuttered concrete, with a mineral render, exposed brickwork, and a blue brick plinth. The shallow-pitched aluminium space-frame roof is clad in lead, with a square lead-clad lantern surmounted by a large metal cross. The church is orientated roughly west to east, formed by a double square Mass hall with attached lower blocks containing narthex, sacristy and kitchen. The interior is dominated by the exposed aluminium Triodetic space-frame roof, hand polished and finished with clear lacquer.

The Blessed Sacrament chapel contains a welded steel and glass reinforced polyester resin Tree of Life sculpture with a Dalmatian pelican, by Geoffrey Teychenne. The silver crucifix in the sanctuary is also by Teychenne, originally centrally placed but re-located to one side. The Lourdes Grotto to the rear of the church was erected in 1991, built of random rubble stone incorporating small stones from Lourdes and Medjugorje.

Music and liturgy

The organ gallery contains a small C18 chamber organ in a mahogany case. The original Stations of the Cross are set in the lintels above the lower windows.

Visiting

The narthex at the west end of the church serves as a gathering and social space. The interior of the narthex is a rectangular room with exposed brick walls, a painted matchboard ceiling, and a floor of rectangular concrete slabs. The main part of the church is entered through one of three entrances: timber double doors at the centre and single doors to the aisles. The nave contains concrete pews with felt panels on the seat and back supports, and wooden tops.

Lighting is provided by four box gantries running the length of the pewed area, and the floor is laid with quarry tiles. The side walls have small built-in wall sconces of concrete with panels of coloured glass. The sanctuary is defined by a raised square laid with quarry tiles, bordered by larger square concrete slabs, and a timber and metal balustrade to the sides. The altar, a heavy stone slab supported on a black metal frame, stands centrally on a smaller raised square with floor tiles and a concrete slab border.

On the east wall are two shallow recesses with projecting concrete shelves holding painted and gilded wood statues of Our Lady and St Joseph, both Italian. The boundary walls to Dorchester Road and in front of the church are of matching brickwork to the principal building, with a brick capping and regularly-spaced brick piers.