Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

Redditch Redditch is a town and non-metropolitan district with borough status in Worcestershire, England. It is located south of Birmingham, east of Bromsgrove, north-west of Alcester and north-east of Worcester. In 2021, the town had a population of ...

, Worcestershire, England. It was built from 1833 to 1834 and designed by

Thomas Rickman Thomas Rickman (8 June 17764 January 1841) was an English architect and architectural antiquary who was a major figure in the Gothic Revival. He is particularly remembered for his ''Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture'' ...

in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

. It is located between Beoley Road West and Holloway Lane in the town centre. It is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

History

Construction

After the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

Catholic mission Missionary work of the Catholic Church has often been undertaken outside the geographically defined parishes and dioceses by religious orders who have people and material resources to spare, and some of which specialized in missions. Eventually, p ...

was maintained around

. At first the mission was in

Beoley Beoley is a small village and larger civil parish north of Redditch in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire. It adjoins Warwickshire to the east. The 2021 census gave a parish population of 984, mostly at Holt End. The parish includes the ...

and supported by the Sheldon family. From 1783, the mission was at Chapel Farm in Heath Green. The current church's site was bought by a local noblewoman, the Lady Catherine Smythe. On 11 February 1833, the foundation stone was laid. The local priest, Fr Bruno Tunstall contributed to the building costs. The church is only the Catholic Church designed by

. On 24 April 1834, the church was opened. In 1872, the church was restored. The work was done by Hardman & Co.

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

Redditch - Our Lady of Mount Carmel
''Taking Stock'', retrieved 14 June 2022

Developments

Initially, the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

was served by

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

priests from

Downside Abbey Downside Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in England and the senior community of the English Benedictine Congregation. Until 2019, the community had close links with Downside School, for the education of children aged 11 to 18. Both the abbey ...

. From 1948, the parish was transferred to the care of priests from Belmont Abbey, Herefordshire. They served the church until 1968, when the parish was handed over to the Archdiocese of Birmingham who continue to serve the

congregation Congregation may refer to: Religion *Church (congregation), a religious organization that meets in a particular location *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administrative body of the Catholic Church *Religious congregation, a type of religious instit ...

Parish

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church is its own

. It has three Sunday Masses at 5:00pm on Saturday and at 8:15am and 6:00pm on Sunday.

Exterior

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church (sign outside), Beoley Road West - geograph.org.uk - 1986872.jpg, Sign Statue of Jesus in grounds of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Beoley Road West - geograph.org.uk - 1986880.jpg, Statue of Jesus

References

External links

* {{Archdiocese of Birmingham Redditch Roman Catholic churches in Worcestershire Grade II listed churches in Worcestershire Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in England Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Worcestershire 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom 1833 establishments in England Roman Catholic churches completed in 1834 Religious organizations established in 1833 Thomas Rickman buildings