St. Joseph's Church, Wroughton

Introduction

Saint Joseph's Church, Wroughton, opened in 1954 on a plan to seat 200, at an approximate cost of £6,800. The church became an independent parish in 1969.

History

With Saint Mary, Swindon, and Wootton Bassett, permanent buildings were chosen that could later become church halls, and the churches were sited to leave room for a future church. Each church had a high sanctuary raised on many steps so that the sanctuary could later serve as a stage for a parish hall. The church was served from Holy Rood until 1962, when premises vacated by the Missionary Servants of the Holy Ghost were occupied. In 1988 the church was extended with a western narthex, a north aisle and a new presbytery, financed in part by selling land to the rear for housing.

Architecture and furnishings

R. J. Beswick & Son of Swindon designed Saint Joseph's Church, Wroughton, to a design and materials shared with two other churches. The original 1953 foundation stone has been reset, and a 1988 datestone was added on the narthex. The original east and west gables each have a circular window, and the west window is obscured by the raised gabled centre bay of the narthex. Pilasters with pre-cast bellmouth capitals mark the side bays, those on the north side possibly reused.

The side windows are triple lights divided by mullions, metal-framed, with leaded divisions and opaque glass. A chimney stack abuts the eastern gable wall. The nave floor was originally thermoplastic tiles and the sanctuary hardwood blocks; both are carpeted. A Gothic arch separates the sanctuary from the nave, and the sanctuary is raised on five steps.

The east end of the aisle is a baptistery with a stone-flagged floor and a circular Portland stone font on a fluted drum, mosaic in the bowl, and the inscription THE SPIRIT OF GOD MOVED OVER THE WATER. The north chapel has a stone Lady altar of 1955, with a large ceramic panel of the Virgin and Child above it. Mosaic panels signed EH on the south wall and around the west door depict martyrs and saints, including Saint Maximilian Kolbe, martyred at Auschwitz in 1941. During Sunday Mass, Children’s Liturgy of the Word is offered so children and young parishioners can engage with the Gospel.

Parish life

A ministries team supports each person’s discernment and service. Tea and coffee are served in the parish hall after Mass on Sundays and Tuesdays. When the church car park is full at busy times, including Sunday Mass, the public car park at the Ellendune Centre may be used.