Joseph Ireland (1841) was an English architect who designed Roman Catholic

Church building A church, church building or church house is a building used for Christian worship services and other Christian religious activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 and 256. From the 11th thro ...

s in the early nineteenth century. He specialized in

Romanesque revival architecture Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

and worked with Joseph John Scoles.

Life

Ireland was born into a Catholic family from Crofton, near Wakefield. He worked almost entirely for Roman Catholic patrons, notably the

Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District The Apostolic Vicariate of the Midland District (later of the Central District) was an ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales. It was led by an apostolic vicar (or vicar apostolic) who was a titular bishop. Th ...

, John Milner. From 1812 until 1819, he employed Joseph John Scoles, a relative, as an apprentice. From 1816 to 1818, he was the architect of

Church of All Saints, Hassop The Church of All Saints, Hassop, Derbyshire is a Roman Catholic parish church. Built in 1816–17, the architect was Joseph Ireland. It is a Grade I listed building. History Francis Eyre of Hassop Hall built the original chapel between 1816-1 ...

, originally built as a private chapel for Hassop Hall and its owner Francis Eyre. The design was based on

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings. As the most notable archit ...

St Paul's Covent Garden St Paul's Church is a Church of England parish church located in Bedford Street, Covent Garden, central London. It was designed by Inigo Jones as part of a commission for the 4th Earl of Bedford in 1631 to create "houses and buildings fit for ...

. In 1821, he built a Greek-style chapel beside Houghton Hall for Charles Langdale who had inherited the estate. In 1824, he was behind the initial plans for St Austin's Church in Wakefield. In 1826, the Society of Jesus set up a mission there and building work started on the church the following year. For the next two years, he worked on St Peter and St Paul Church in Wolverhampton and a chapel for the Dominican Order in Hinckley. The priory in Hinckley was the centre for the Dominicans in Britain and the chapel was dedicated to St Peter. It was demolished in 1976. Other works included Holy Cross Church in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

from 1817 to 1819, St Mary's the Mount Church in Walsall in 1825. In 1829 he built a chapel at Tixhall Hall, Staffordshire for the Clifford family; it was dismantled following the sale of the estate in 1840 and rebuilt as St John the Baptist Church at

Great Haywood Great Haywood is a village in central Staffordshire, England, just off the A51 and about northwest of Rugeley and southeast of the county town of Stafford. Population details taken at the 2011 census can be found under Colwich. Haywood ...

. Nikolaus Pevsner, when writing about Catholic churches in Staffordshire praised Joseph Ireland writing, "The finest Catholic churches are Late Georgian Classical. They are the churches of Wolverhampton and Walsall, both of 1825-7 ... both by Ireland."

Churches

File:St John the Baptist Catholic Church, Great Haywood - geograph.org.uk - 60582.jpg, St John the Baptist Church, Great Haywood File:Hassop - All Saints Catholic Church - geograph.org.uk - 977884.jpg, All Saints Church, Hassop St Austin's Catholic Church - Wentworth Terrace - geograph.org.uk - 654095.jpg, St Austin's Church, Wakefield St Mary's the Mount - geograph.org.uk - 1032947.jpg, St Mary the Mount Church, Walsall Wolverhampton Catholic Church of St Peter and St Paul.JPG, St Peter and St Paul Church, Wolverhampton * Grace Congregatiobal Church of Harlem, formerly a Presbyterian Church built in 1892

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ireland, Joseph English ecclesiastical architects Romanesque Revival architects 1780s births 1841 deaths

Life

Churches

See also

References