St Joseph's R.C. Church, Hay-on-Wye

St Joseph's Church
St Joseph's Church
	Church viewed from Belmont Rd
	52°04′29″N 3°07′37″W / 52.074774°N 3.127053°W
OS grid reference	SO2285242423
Location	The Presbytery, 4 Belmont Road, Hay-on-Wye, Powys HR3 5DA
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Previous denomination	Calvinistic Methodist
Website	https://www.stmichaelsrcbrecon.org.uk/st-joseph/
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	1968
Dedication	Saint Joseph
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Conservation area
Architect(s)	F.R. Bates, Son & Price of Newport
Style	Gothic architecture
Administration
Province	Cardiff
Archdiocese	Cardiff-Menevia
Deanery	Llandrindod Wells Deanery
Parish	St Joseph's
Clergy
Priest(s)	Fr. Jimmy Sebastian MCBS

St Joseph's Church is a Roman Catholic church in the town of Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales. Hay-on-Wye is known as the "town of books". St. Joseph's parish is in the Llandrindod Wells Deanery of the Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia.^[2]^[3]

St Joseph's is served out of St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church in Brecon^[4]. The Parish Priest for St. Michael's and St. Joseph's is Fr Jimmy Sebastian Pulickakunnel MCBS. Fr Jimmy is a member of the religious order of the Missionary Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament.^[4]

Canon Clyde Johnson, a retired Priest, also helps in the parish.^[5]^[6]

Parish

There are two regular Masses held in the church, one on Sunday morning at 9am and the other at 10am Thursday morning. The weekly newsletter contains details about the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Exposition, Holy day Masses etc.^[7]

Parishioners play an active part in the life of the parish community. A garden dedicated to Our Lady was created during a Covid lockdown. Spectacular Christmas and Easter devotional scenes are created every year. Parishioners prepare the rotas for readers, eucharistic ministers, writing bidding prayers, church cleaning, flower arranging etc. The church organist leads the 'Holy Joes' an ecumenical choir that lead the music most Sundays and on special occasions in the local area.^[8] They rehearse on a Tuesday and always welcome new recruits. Parish Groups include the Parish Advisory Council which include key roles in parish administration.

History

In 1828, a Tabernacle Calvinistic Methodist (Presbyterian Church of Wales) chapel was built in Belmont Rd. The congregation were known as the ‘Jumpers’ due to their energetic engagement in services, and enthusiastic hymn singing.^[9] They are the precursors to the 'Holy Joes'.

In 1872, a stone-built Calvinistic Methodist chapel was rebuilt on the same site at a cost of £700 in the Gothic style of the gable entry type.^[10]^[11]^[12]

H.R. Grant on Castle St including former flannel mill to the rear on Belmont Rd.

Early in the 20th century visiting secular Priests from Brecon^[13] and the Benedictines of Belmont Abbey celebrated Roman Catholic Mass in the home of Mr Grant, Castle Street in Hay-on-Wye.^[14]^[15]^[16]^[17]^[18]^[19]

The Cheese Market.

In 1926, Francis Vaughan the Bishop of Menevia gave consent for the Roman Catholic Mass to be celebrated in the hired assembly room over the Cheese Market. Anecdotally, current parishioners remember that the rood leaked when it rained, and they remembered the challenge of getting coffins up and down the narrow stairwell.^[20]^[21]

Chapel of St Mary the Virgin at Capel-y-ffin

Old Presbytery, Church St.

In the 1950’s, parishioners raised money to buy a house which served as a Presbytery. In 1960, Fr. Hugh Healey was appointed resident Priest and lived in the Old Presbytery.^[22] Fr Healey was well known to Hay residents. He walked his dog daily and always had time to stop and talk. To raise funds for the parish he made leather wallets that he sold at great profit in London. He was regular visitor to the local Indian restaurant. Anecdotal evidence by current parishioners reveal that Mass was celebrated by Fr. Healey in Castle Street, and sometimes at Capel-y-Ffin, near Llanthony Priory. Roman Catholic Mass was first celebrated at Capel-y-Ffin in 1913. The house was eventually sold to a lay person, a Roman Catholic, and Mass was celebrated in the Capel-y-Ffin chapel up to the 1960's.^[23] Capel-y-Ffin is currently being served from the Anglo-Catholic (Church in Wales) pre-conquest church of St. Eigon, Llanigon, Wales.

New Presbytery, Belmont Rd

Rather than build a new church, in 1968, the Methodist chapel was purchased and adapted for Roman Catholic use by the firm of architects F.R. Bates, Son & Price of Newport. The firm specialised in modernising Catholic churches across South Wales. The refurbished building was dedicated to St. Joseph. An adjacent mid-war house was acquired, and became the current presbytery. Parishioners remember that Ian Paisley and other outsiders came to Hay to protest about the proposed new use of the building!^[24]

Church interior

Caitriona Cartwright carved the Stations of the Cross using local stone and inspired by the letter cutting of 18th century headstones.^[25] The abstract coloured window glazing is thought to be the work of the Architects F.R. Bates, Son & Price of Newport. The curved roof is one of the few remaining architectural features following the refurbishment. The right hand side of the front of the church has a small tower containing the pointed main entrance door, with a bell stage above which tapers to a square cap with a bold corbel table. The original building may have intended to include a spire, or was built with a spire which has been lost.^[26]

Church exterior

The church building is within the Hay Conservation area, but is not grade II listed.^[27]^[28] Due to its heritage, the church is not orientated traditionally i.e. towards the east. The alter faces towards the west and the entrance towards the east. The architecture is based on a thirteenth century Gothic style. The pitched roof is covered in Welsh slate, and local stone was used for the rock-face stone front wall (looking from Belmont Rd). The gabled front has a central pointed window with three simply moulded lights with three hexagons in the tracery. To its left is a single pointed window with a straight head to the main light and a hexagon in the tracery. The wall on this side terminates with a stepped buttress carried up into a pinnacle. The right hand side at the front has a small tower containing the pointed main entrance door, with a bell stage above which tapers to a square cap with a bold corbel table. It looks like a spire was intended to be built, or the spire was built and has been lost.^[26]