Description

REDDITCH B BEOLEY ROAD (south side)
SP 0467 SE
Smallwood
15/13 Church of Our Lady
of Mount Carmel (RC)
10.4.54
- II

Church. 1834 by Thomas Rickman with mid-C20 alterations and additions.
Sandstone ashlar, partly stuccoed; slate roofs with bracketed eaves and
gable-end parapets with kneelers. West tower with open porch, four-bay
nave with transepts, two-bay chancel. No dominant style but Early English
and Perpendicular influence. West tower: two stages with strings; buttresses
with offsets, angled at west corners; west, north and south elevations have
tall pointed arches of two chamfered orders with hood moulds leading into
open porch with quadripartite vault; above archways is a rose window in the
west elevation and a narrow rectangular opening in the side elevations;
intermediate string forms sill string to bell chamber openings; these open-
ings are large, rectangular and hollow chamfered with a mullion and transom
dividing them into four cusped ogee-arched louvred lights; above is an
embattled parapet with corner pinnacles. Nave: chamfered plinth and moulded
plinth band; buttresses with offsets at bay divisions, angled at west and
transept ends; west end has two lancets flanking tower; within porch is a
pointed doorway with a square head and blind tracery in the spandrels (all
largely restored); windows in side elevations are all cusped lancets beneath
square heads; 4-centred archway with double doors at west end of north
elevation. Single-bay transepts also have cusped lancets beneath square
heads in their west elevations (that in the south transept is blind); south
transept gable end has three lancets grouped beneath a pointed head and a
louvred opening above in the apex; both transepts have C20 single-storey
additions to their west side elevations with gable-end parapets above
rectangular lights and doors in their outer side elevations. Chancel:
angled buttresses with offsets at east end; 3-light east window with sill
string and louvred opening above in apex; rose window in each side elevation;
the north side rose window and the north end and east side of the north
transept are obscured by a later addition (not of special architectural
interest); door with cambered head in south elevation of chancel. Interior:
plastered throughout with painted decoration. At west end of nave is a 4-
centred archway of two chamfered orders, the inner of which is supported on
corbels; the jambs of the archway are pierced with a lower rectangular
opening and upper cusped lancets. Chancel and transepts have plaster quasi-
vaulting with thin ribs and large bosses. Nave has truncated queen strut
trusses with trefoil detailing. Windows all have hood moulds with returns.
Gallery at west end with blind cusped pointed arcading. This modest and
simply detailed church is of particular interest in that it has more in
common with the contemporary Commissioners type of churches than with the
more archaeologically accurate examples of Rickman's work (BoE, p 248).

Listing NGR: SP0475467475

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Roman Catholic) at Wikipedia
• Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Roman Catholic) official website
• Wikidata Q26631984

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)