Catholics in Heywood had to travel to Rochdale for Mass and the sacraments until 1854. In 1855, Fr. Arthur Stanislaus McCann (d.1892) began by establishing a parish using a disused workshop near Rochdale Road as a chapel, before renting the Ragged School in George Street for use as a chapel and school. A year later, building began in Dawson Street of a church, school and presbytery. St Joseph's Church was opened by Bishop Turner on Sunday 5 October 1856.[1][2]
With a growing population, discussions began about building a bigger church after the appointment of one of McCann's successors, Fr. Cornelius William Poole (d.1916), in 1898.[1] Fr. Poole struggled to raise funds for building a new church for many years but a site on the north side of Mary Street was found. On 13 October 1913, the foundation stone was laid by Bishop Casartelli and the new St Joseph's Church was finished and opened in April 1916.[1][3][4][2] In 1962, the parish of St Joseph, Heywood was subdivided to create a new parish of Our Lady and St Paul.[5] In 2011, these two parishes were merged to form the current parish of Our Lady and St Joseph.[2]
Some further extensions were made to the original construction such as the baptistry, entrance porch and north transept that was added between 1929 and 1937, and an organ loft was added after 1969. The church's mosaics were made by artist Eric Newton (1893–1965) along with other artists in the workshops of the firm Ludwig Oppenheimer Ltd.[1][9][2][8]
