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St Joseph's

St Joseph's Sheringham the Church, its history, its architecture & its furnishings
The first small church was built in 1908, and is now a side chapel dedicated to St. Joseph. Mass is said in here on most weekdays. It follows the traditional east-west orientation, and is parallel to Cromer Road. There is no certain record, but it is thought to be the work of Giles Gilbert Scott, like the main church which soon followed. Scott was a from famous Catholic architectual family: his grandfather George Gilbert Scott was architect of St John the Baptist's Cathedral in Norwich and he, himself, was to achieve very great fame through his design for the magnificent Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, although St. Columba's Cathedral in Oban (also by Scott) probably shows greater kinship with St Joseph's.

The main church was built at right angles to what has become a side chapel, and perforce had to be north-south, parallel to Cremer's Drift from which there is a short path to the entrance porch: this porch is open throughout the day, so that people can see into the Church and pray. Presumably due to a lack of funds the original building extended only as far south to what are now the confessional and Lady Chapel: the latter had originally served as the porch. The original sanctuary was smaller. This part of the Church was formally opened by Bishop Keating of Northampton on 2 August 1910 (the Diocese of East Anglia was not created until 13 March 1976). It is not altogether clear whether this building was transitional (although photographic evidence would seem to suggest that this was so), but it was extended southward under the guidance of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and consecrated on 2 August 1936, once again at the heart of the holiday season. The following illustration shows the Church prior to its southernward extension.

The design of the church has been described by Pevsner as "very remarkable" in spite of his honest description of it being a "tall red-brick building". Its arts & crafts gothic clearly shows some affinity with the Victorian Gothic of St John's Cathedral in Norwich to which Pevsner applied the adjective "amazing". Clearly this very late flowering of the Gothic style in St Joseph's fits snugly with the huge number of magnificent pre-Reformation churches which adorn the Norfolk countryside, such as St Peter's in Cromer, All Saints in Upper Sheringham and St Andrew's in Holt. Although the overall site is large by the standards of many English Catholic churches, such a magnificent building probably deserved a more worthy site (the building is Grade II listed), such as that provided for St Columba's in Oban where it acts a welcoming beacon for the ferries entering the harbour.

Edward Norman's Roman Catholic Church succinctly captures the essence of Gothic churches (when contrasting them with Orthodox architecture of the East). Gothic aspires to height: the lofty naves reach up to soaring pinnacles, with towers and spires pointing to the heavens - like the obelisks of ancient Egypt. A Gothic church is a turning away from the world and its corruptions. The heavenly society does not visit the earth and suffuse the material world with the divine truth, as in the Byzantine vision, but humans transcend the world and glimpse heaven through stone foliage, mysteriously removed from the ambiguities of life on earth.

A recent superb study of Catholic churches in England & Wales by Christopher Marten states that the interior has a "wonderful sense of space and light". Internally, the two most striking items are the Rood and Reredos (and these are visible from the porch). The Rood, comprising the figures of the Crucifixion, Our Lady and St. John, was carved by Ferdinand Stuflesser of Ortisei in the Italian Tyrol, and decorated by G. Tosi of London. As tradition dictated, it was hung over the entrance to the sanctuary. The Reredos was made by G. Ratcliffe of London, and composed of seven panels, six of which were copied from the medieval screen in Ranworth Church on the Broads, the other is that of St. Joseph, patron of the church.

At the centre top, there is the Risen Christ emerging from the tomb: this serves as the fifteenth Station of the Cross. On His right is St. Thomas of Canterbury, . To His left is St Felix. On the second level is the swaggering figure of St. Michael overcoming the devil as a dragon, and St. Ethelreda (Audrey), abbess of Ely. On the lowest level is Our Lady of Walsingham with the Christ Child, and St. Joseph depicted in a style to fit the other medieval paintings. The centre was originally a very ornate throne intended for the monstrance used for Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, with a background of gold stars. This now encloses the tabernacle. Each side of the reredos is embellished with an angel on a decorated support of guilded flowers and carrying a scroll with the first words of the Latin Gloria Gloria in excelsis Deo, and Et in terra pax hominibus.
The marble altar used to stand against the back wall of the sanctuary with a white marble retable including the tabernacle, and supporting very large gilded wooden candlesticks, which were reached by means of a stair hidden behind the altar, which also gave access to the monstrance throne. Beneath the altar was a very large reliquary, also carved by F. Stuflesser and painted by G. Tosi with a carved angel at each side in a posture of adoration. The changes made following the Second Vatican Council to enable the priest to say Mass facing the people caused the altar to be moved forward and the tabernacle to be moved to the site of the monstrance throne..
The Stations of the Cross around the walls came from Ortisei, as did the memorial statue of the Sacred Heart, unusually blue rather than the customary red. The statue is a memorial for Bertie Cooper. The Stations had been dispatched early in the First World War but never arrived. Happily, after the war, they were found in the hold of a German freighter interned in Genoa for the duration, and so eventually arrived in Sheringham. The statue of St. Joseph was carved in 1993 by the grandson of F. Stuflesser.

The stained glass window facing north above the altar has as its centre-piece a pelican. According to legend, the pelican fed its young with its blood, and hence was taken as a symbol of Holy Communion wherein Christ feeds us with his Body and Blood. Around this centre-piece are representations of the various instruments of the Passion of Christ, whereby His blood was shed for us. The large window at the south end is a Jesse window, often found in medieval churches, representing the human descent of Christ from Jesse and David, with various figures from the Old Testament. In the tracery above the window are figures of St. Nicholas, patron saint of seafarers, a link with the fishermen's chapel that once stood in Wyndham Street, also St. Christopher, former patron saint of travellers and St. Edward the Confessor, the last Saxon King of England.
Originally the space outside the side chapel served as the Lady Chapel and was simply a reproduction of the painting of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, venerated in the church of St. Alphonsus in Rome and supposedly painted by St. Luke. It is an eastern ikon type of picture and very popular at that time. When the extension of the church was completed in 1936, what had been the porch was enclosed and made a more fitting Lady Chapel with the central figure of Our Lady of Walsingham, flanked by the two leading Catholic martyrs of the Reformation: St. (Sir) Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England, and St. John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. In 1936 they had recently been canonised. The front of the stone altar has a beautiful carving of the Annunciation, which is attributed to Eric Gill. Certainly the carving is typical of Gill, though the lettering is not in his usual style. On the opposite site of the nave a confessional was built. For those interested in the work of Gill the Catholic Church of St Peter the Apostle in Gorleston is noteworthy as being his sole completed architectural commission, although his work on church furnishings, as in the Stations of the Cross in Westminster Cathedral is highly memorable...

The Baptismal font, just inside the nave, is a replica of the pre-reformation font in St. Mary's, Walsingham. Carved in stone, the upper panels depict the Seven Sacraments with a Crucifixion making the eighth, while on the pedestal are represented eight of the Doctors of the Church. Originally it stood behind the decorated iron railings in the inner porch which formed the traditional Baptistry.
The pulpit was carved by a local carver, Mr. Palmer, and was given in memory of Canon Walmsley Carter. It depicts the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Initially it stood in the nave, its position still visible by the lighter stonework on the second pillar from the front. The roof is painted in a simple style.

The side chapel has a reredos with statues of St. Joseph, flanked by Saints. Cyril and Methodius, the patron saints of Europe, but seemingly a strange choice for a North Norfolk church: one theory is that it was given by a lady from eastern Europe. They were in fact, brothers who brought the Gospel to the Slav countries of eastern Europe, and Cyril is the author of the Cyrillic alphabet used in Russia and elsewhere. The two windows on the road side, represent the Flight of the Holy Family into Egypt, and the death of St. Joseph. On the other side is a poor quality glass picture of St. Mary Magdalen. The chapel is screened off with a glass screen so as to be used for weekday Mass, and if required, as an overflow to the main church.
The Second Vatican Council recommended that Mass should be said facing the people. At first a temporary wooden altar was erected in front of the original high altar, which then ceased to be used. It was also recommended that Baptism should ideally be administered during Mass and so the Baptism font was transferred from the Baptistry in the porch, to a position in the sanctuary adjacent to the side entrance, but these were temporary expedients and in 1993 a more radical and permanent re-ordering was made. Anthony Rossi, an architect experienced in conservation work, was engaged. The work was completed in time for Christmas 1993. The underlying aim was to preserve as much as possible of the original furnishings. Therefore, the original marble altar was brought forward to provide a permanent and more fitting altar for the celebration of Mass facing the people. Because of its size however, it was necessary to slightly reduce the length of the altar table while preserving the supports of the original altar.

The Presbytery ia clearly the work of Scott and its dominant domestic chimney shows remarkable affinity with Scott's South Bank power station which would be transformed into the Tate Modern

Much of the material for this history was initially taken the Very Rev. Canon McBride's history of the Church: Canon McBride was also responsible for the sympathetic reordering..

Parish Priests
Canon Thomas Walmsley-Carter: 1909-1938: buried outside Church
Father Cyril Banham: 1939-1945
Father Thomas K. Philips: 1945-1947
Father Cyril Snowden: 1947-1954
Father Francis Armstrong: 1954-1967
Canon Gerard Hulme: 1968-1976
Father John Cureton: 1976-1988
Father Liam Crawley: 1988-1989
Canon Edward McBride: 1989-2000
Father Tony Webb: 2000-2007
Father Peter Brown Priest in charge 2007-8

St Ethelreda
Twice married virgin: second husband was Prince of Northumberland: founded abbey at Ely. At her time Ely was a small island formed on rock (greensand) in the midst of the Fens (great marshes which at that time spread from Cambridge across to merge with the sea at The Wash). Thus her abbey (for both monks and nuns) was ensured peace and tranqility to enable them to be close to God. The great medieval abbey church (and now Anglican Cathedral) is a monument to her towering spirituality. Its lantern tower (once filled with great candles at night) must have acted as a beacon or inland lighthouse for pilgrims making their way through the marshes before they they were drained from the seventeenth century
St Felix
Felix was an apostle of East Anglia. He was a Burgundian who evangelised East Anglia and established his bishopric at Dunwich. This town between Southwold and Aldeburgh, has now been eroded and fallen into the North Sea.
St Thomas of Canterbury
Within the specialised context of St Joseph's in Sheringham, St Thomas of Canterbury is patron of the secular clergy, and also of the Diocese of Northampton. At that time this diocese included Sheringham. The Diocese of East Anglia was not established until 13 March 1976.
Bertie Joseph Cooper
Victim of the First World War. Killed when only eighteen on 27 September 1918. Served in Royal West Kent Regiment.

Giles Gilbert Scott
The name Scott is one of the most British famous names in ecclesiastical architecture. Giles Gilbert Scott was born on 9 November 1880 at 26 Church Row, Hampstead, London, the third son of George Gilbert Scott junior (1839-97) and the grandson of Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-78), both architects: the latter was architect of St. Pancras Station recently restored and reopened in 2007 to serve as the terminal for TGVs to Paris and Brussels. Gilbert was educated at Beaumont College (Windsor). Gilbert and his brother Adrian were taken by their mother, Ellen, on many cycle trips, which he called "church crawls" visiting some of the masterpieces of church architecture on the Kent-Sussex border. Both the young Scott's were articled for three years to Temple Lushington Moore, who had himself been articled to their father. Giles Gilbert Scott became one of Britain's most successful architects, being responsible for several cathedrals, a very large number of churches and public buildings. In Scotland, he designed the magnificent St. Columba's Catholic Cathedral in Oban (Argyll and Bute). His masterpiece was Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral, the largest Cathedral in Britain, which was designed whilst he was still very young. Two power stations (masterpieces of brick cladding) became landmarks in London: Battersea and Bankside. The latter is now the Tate Modern dedicated to housing modern art. In a less secular age the great turbine hall might have been re-used to form the nave for a further great cathedral. Just up the River Thames from the Tate Modern the graceful modern Waterloo Bridge is another of Scott's works: simple, functional and elegant. Gilbert Scott also designed that uniquely British symbol: the classic red telephone box.
Scott became a Fellow of the RIBA in 1912 and received the Institute's Royal Gold Medal in 1925. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1918 and a full Academician in 1922 - the youngest since Turner. He was knighted in 1924 after the consecration of the first portion of Liverpool Cathedral and was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1944. Scott was also made a Knight of the Order of St. Olaf of Norway for his advice on the completion of Trondheim Cathedral.
He died in University College Hospital (London) After a Requiem Mass at St. James's, Spanish Place, London, Scott was buried by the Benedictine monks from Ampleforth outside the west end of "his" great Cathedral in Liverpool next to his wife at a point which should have been enclosed by a porte cochere had his final design of 1942 been followed.
Other than architecture, Scott's passion was for golf: he must surely have played on the course at Sheringham. Sir John Betjeman thought "He was a jovial, generous man who looked more like a cheerful naval officer than an architect," [Obituary, Birmingham Post, 10 February 1960]. Sir Hubert Worthington [R.I.B.A. Journal, April 1960, p. 194] recorded "his was a singularly beautiful character, free of the jealousies that so often spoil the successful artist. He bore life's triumphs and life's trials with an unruffled serenity."

Pevsner
Pevsner, Nikolaus and Wilson, Bill. Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East. 2nd edition. London: Penguin Books, 1997. Pp. 663-4 cover the Church of St. Joseph: other relevant pages cover The Cathedral Church of St John the Baptist in Norwich (pp. 330-1), and for work of Eric Gill: Church of St. Peter the Apostle on p. 477.
Marten
Marten, Chrisopher. A glimpse of Heaven: Catholic churches in England and Wales. Swindon: English Heritage, 2006. Pp. 160-1 and includes wonderful interior views taken by Alex Ramsay. Good shots of the exterior are difficult to obtain. In this wonderful work St Joseph's can be seen alongside other work by the same architect, and within the overall context of Catholic ecclesiastical architecture, including the Cathedrals as diverse as Westminster, Norwich (where St John the Baptist dominates the skyline), Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Shrewsbury and Clifton, and Abbeys from Ampleforth to Quarr. Sheringham is indeed fortunate to house such a gem within its midst.
Norman
Norman, Edward. The Roman Catholic Church: an illustrated history. London: Thames & Hudson, 2007.
Excellent Website (image of Font comes from)
2008-03-17











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