St. Joseph's RC Church, Wigan - March 08

One of the benefits of working for the Catholic Church is that your employer is one of the biggest landowners on the planet. Although the field I work in doesn't give me direct access to a directory of buildings, I've been lucky enough to make a few contacts who have!

Built in 1861, St Joseph's Catholic Church is a grade II listed building on the fringe of Wigan town centre and was the Sunday school of a certain George Formby.

It's been closed since 1995 and is a burden around the church's neck. They (and Wigan Council) are hoping someone comes along and takes it under their wing in this quarter's redevelopment of the mills and waterfront area.

































I've noticed these pictures looked great on my camera screen, crap on my 19" CRT but good on my 17" TFT at work. I'd be interested to know how you guys see them and whether it's a screen issue, or the problem that the 350D doesn't like low light.

Re: St. Joseph's RC Church, Wigan 25/03/08

Nice pics Gibbo, I hate when churches get chaved like that smashed stained glass, Looks like a great explore, I like those beems and the old news paper

Very nice indeed mate, do you think you could nip back and get me that gothic arch door?

Nice one Gibbo, I dont suppose you could sort out access to the other St. Josephs could you?

havoc said:

Nice one Gibbo, I dont suppose you could sort out access to the other St. Josephs could you?

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You say that in jest mate but i actually think he may be able to, no joke, he has contacts.

I like this church. Love churches, but this one looks so sad, and stripped of a lot. Really liked seeing the old newspapers that were under the altar, and the confession box. Love all the heavy wooden doors, and the slot for the school debts.

Its such a shame to see churches with broken windows etc.

Lovely pics,

Cheers,

Sal

havoc said:

Nice one Gibbo, I dont suppose you could sort out access to the other St. Josephs could you?

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Sort of. Although the site isn't the property of the church any longer, I do have some info. I'll PM it to you as it's quite sensitive.

Gibbo said:

Sort of. Although the site isn't the property of the church any longer, I do have some info. I'll PM it to you as it's quite sensitive.

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Count me in on that too, G.

Always fancied doing a church, nice one.

TnM

ThenewMendoza said:

Always fancied doing a church, nice one.

TnM

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lol. You just want to go to confession

To answer your query, Gibbo...you can see that it's quite a low light day as pic 1 and 2 are quite dark. 3 is great, then the next 4 are very dark, as you can't really make out any of the altar details. The rest are fine, including the newspaper shots. Then again, that could be to do with my screen resolution.

Really nice explore, btw, and enjoyed seeing your photos.

St Josephs Church

I used to attend this church until I was 13 and moved away from the area in 1961. This church holds a lot of fascinating vivid memories for me. The Church bell had never been used for many years but in the late 50's a new Parish Preist, Father Tobin took over and had the bell re-commissioned. It was then rang before every mass each Sunday. On one Sunday after 9.00am mass, the bell was being rang for the next service as the church emptied and the clapper fell out of the bell and fell to the ground amongst a crowd of people leaving the church. Miraculously no one was injured.

Barmcake said:

I used to attend this church until I was 13 and moved away from the area in 1961. This church holds a lot of fascinating vivid memories for me. The Church bell had never been used for many years but in the late 50's a new Parish Preist, Father Tobin took over and had the bell re-commissioned. It was then rang before every mass each Sunday. On one Sunday after 9.00am mass, the bell was being rang for the next service as the church emptied and the clapper fell out of the bell and fell to the ground amongst a crowd of people leaving the church. Miraculously no one was injured.

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That reminds me of one of Fred Dibah's stories about how he was helping to fix a chuch clock & accidently dropped a half brick down the bell rope shaft. Luckily no-one was standing at the bottom, but a funeral was being held at the time & it must have been scary to hear a series of banging sounds as the half brick bounced of the sides of the shaft.