St Joseph's Church, Stockport

During the late 18th century, the local Catholic population in Stockport were served by priests from Manchester. In 1798, a Fr James Blundell was saying Mass in a house on Windmill Street. In 1803, a permanent chapel was built on Chapel Street and called St Philip and St James. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the Catholic congregation increased with the influx of workers at Stockport’s mills. In 1845, a priest would come from the chapel (which in 1905 would be replaced by Our Lady and the Apostles Church in Edgeley) to the centre of Stockport to say Mass in a temporary school in Parson’s Yard. In 1858, the schools on Tatton Street were built. They were designed by Matthew Ellison Hadfield and George Goldie.[4]

In 1861, the foundation stone for the church was laid by the Bishop of Salford, William Turner. In 1862, a watercolour was made by M. E. Hadfield showing the west end interior of the church. It now hangs in the west end of the nave. In 1888, an industrial school, linked to the church, was built to the south of the school. It was part-funded by the Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk.[4]