Burslem’s New Deal

A church built by unemployed men in the Potteries during the Great Depression was this week awarded a grant of £40,000 from the National Churches Trust to restore and protect its remarkable interior.

The construction of St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, was paid for by congregation collection. The parish priest, Fr William Browne, paid the unemployed Burslem men with a daily bowl of soup and a chunk of bread. The church’s colourful interior brickwork was made locally at Fenton, within the Potteries.

St Joseph’s also features a set of painted ceiling panels [pictured] undertaken by Gordon Forsyth, then head of Burslem School of Art. His daughter, Moira, produced
the church’s huge ceiling painting.

St Joseph’s is one of 29 churches  to share in a £390,000 grant from the National Churches Trust.