Architecture Paul Waddington on a splendid Victorian church in the North East, designed by Archibald Matthias Dunn

St Joseph’s Gateshead

Paul Waddington on a splendid Victorian church in the North East, designed by Archibald Matthias Dunn

At the time of the restoration of the Hierarchy in 1850, there was no provision for Masses to be offered in Gateshead. Catholics would have to cross the River Tyne to attend Mass in Newcastle. However, the newly appointed Bishop of Hexham (as the Diocese was then styled), the Rt Rev. William Hogarth, lost little time in putting this right. In 1852, he sent Father Betham to set up a parish in Gateshead. Mass was first offered in a temporary chapel on the top floor of a warehouse, and later in the Assembly Rooms of the Queen’s Hotel.

It is estimated that there were 3,000 Catholics in and around Gateshead at the time, half of them newly arrived immigrants from Ireland who had come to seek work in the new industries of the area. With such numbers, a church of considerable size was clearly necessary.

In the year 1858, Bishop Hogarth laid the foundation stone for a church which was originally going to be dedicated to Our Lady and St Wilfrid. The architect was Archibald Matthias Dunn, and his brief was to design a church for a congregation of 1,000. The bishop returned the following year to open the new church, which, due to a change of mind, was now dedicated to St Joseph. It had been built for the remarkably low cost of £3,000.

Dunn also designed a school and a three-storey presbytery, which were built on the same site and both opened in 1864.

Archibald Dunn was the son of a mining engineer, and was educated at Ushaw College and Stonyhurst. He served his architectural apprenticeship in Bristol with Charles Francis Hansom (younger brother of the more famous Joseph Aloysius Hansom). Besides St Joseph’s in Gateshead, Archibald Dunn designed several other churches in the diocese, including Our Lady and St Wilfrid in Blyth and St Dominic’s Priory in Newcastle. Later he formed a partnership with Edward Hansom, the son of Charles Francis Hansom, and together they designed a number of Catholic churches. These include the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge, the Church of St Michael in Newcastle, the Church of Our Lady and St Joseph in Carlisle and the Church of St Joseph in Hartlepool.

Perhaps the partnership, which was joined in 1887 by Archibald’s son, also called Archibald, is better known for rebuilding and enlarging Augustus Welby Pugin’s chapel at Ushaw College, and adding the tower and spire to St Mary’s Cathedral in Newcastle.

Prominent position

St Joseph’s Church in Gateshead occupies a prominent position on a street corner in central Gateshead. It is built of stone with a slate roof, and is in the Decorated Gothic style. Cruciform in plan, and traditional in orientation (altar at the eastern end), it is a substantial building with lofty nave, apsidal chancel and side isles. Originally there was to have been an impressive tower with a spire reaching to a height of 200 feet, but this was never built. This feature seems to have been abandoned before building started, its place at the northwest corner of the church being taken by a baptistery with pyramidal roof. It is a great pity that the spire was never built, as it would have greatly enhanced the building.

The interior of St Joseph’s today: a re-ordering in the 1980s destroyed much of interest

The sanctuary as it originally appeared

Internally, the church has a light and airy feel. The six bays of the lofty nave have high pointed arches supported on octagonal columns, which are sufficiently slender to allow good sight lines. Above the arcading are clerestory windows of generous size that admit plenty of light. The scissor-braced roof trusses spring from wall posts that rise from corbels above the columns.

A prominent feature of the church is the chancel arch, on which is painted a rood with the figures of Our Lady and St John at either side. This is not an original feature, but dates from the early part of the twentieth century. The sanctuary is lit by three pairs of stainedglass windows. The central one depicts the Holy Family, and this is flanked on the left by images of Saints Patrick and Cuthbert, and on the right by Saints Edward and Henry.

In the year 1907 a fine white and ochre marble altar and reredos were installed. This was a massive structure incorporating two arches that gave access to steps behind the altar. Above the tabernacle, was a monstrance throne with a tall conical canopy reaching nearly to the ceiling, and incorporating numerous spirelets. Marble altar rails were also installed, and the walls were with decorative stencilling. The panelling of the apsidal sanctuary ceiling was also brightly painted. At a later date, an exceptionally elegant pulpit was added which was a gift from Alderman William John Costello, who later became a Mayor of Gateshead.

There are side chapels at the eastern ends of the aisles. One is dedicated to the Assumption of Our Lady, and has an original oil painting on the retable of the altar. The other has been robbed of its altar, but contains a beautiful statue of St Joseph carrying the infant Jesus, as well as housing a large pipe organ.

The remains of the original reredos

At the western end of the church is a choir loft with a five light window behind. Like most of the windows in St Joseph’s Church, the curvilinear tracery is elaborate, and demonstrates Dunn’s skill in executing the neo-Gothic Decorated style. The glass in this window depicts various scenes including the Nativity and the Assumption. Indeed, all the windows of St Joseph’s Church are noteworthy, both for their elegant tracery, and for the quality of their stained glass, which was mostly supplied by the firm H M Barnett of Newcastle.

Spectacular

With all the improvements made during the early part of the twentieth century, the church must have looked quite spectacular. Alas, a reordering scheme of the 1980s destroyed much of this good work. Not only were the pulpit and the altar rails swept away, but the altar was detached from its reredos, and relocated in a forward position. The reredos was much reduced in size, losing its monstrance canopy in the process. As was done in so many places, the sanctuary was extended into the crossing and the level of its floor raised. The walls were whitewashed, and, many decorative effects eliminated. Surprisingly, the screens in front of the side chapels survived.

Although the statues that used to adorn the pulpit were salvaged, and some of the marble was used to make an ambo and presidential chair, the outcome had a catastrophic effect on the appearance of the church, made worse by the selection of a red carpet to cover up the damage.

St Joseph’s Church is Grade II Listed, and has Canon Michael Brown as its Parish Priest. Canon Brown is the Northern Chaplain to the LMS and offers Mass in the Extraordinary Form Every Sunday at noon.