Joseph Ireland
Joseph Ireland was an English architect who designed Roman Catholic Church buildings in the early nineteenth century. He specialized in Romanesque revival architecture 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, 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, originally built as a private chapel for Hassop Hall and its owner Francis Eyre. The design was based on Inigo Jones' St Paul's Covent Garden. 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 plans came to fruition when the Society of Jesus set up a mission there and started the building work 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 Chapel in Leicester from 1817 to 1819, St Mary's Chapel in Walsall in 1825 and Saints Peter and Paul Chapel in Wolverhampton in 1826. 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 the church of John the Baptist at Great Haywood.Gallery
