Our Lady Of Mount Carmel Redditch

Let’s talk about Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Redditch. It’s not your average parish. Tucked between a roundabout and a housing estate, this place has a wild secret.

The One That Almost Wasn’t

You might drive past it a hundred times. But here’s the kicker: it was built by a single family. The Corbett family owned the land and basically said, “Let’s make a church for the Catholics.”

It opened in 1838. That’s way before Redditch became the concrete New Town we know today. Back then, it was fields, factories, and a whole lot of needle-making.

The Weird Father Hudson Thing

Inside, you’ll find a statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Standard, right? But the real oddity lives in the presbytery next door. It was built by a man named Father Hudson.

Father Hudson was a priest who also ran a linen factory. That’s right—holy robes and profit margins. He’d stamp his business logo on everything, even the church’s baptismal font. Look closely. It’s there.

The Bell That Did a Runner

The church bell has a dramatic history. In the 1940s, it decided to fall off. Not crash to the floor, but slide down the tower and lodge itself in a drainpipe. It stayed there for weeks, silent and stubborn.

Locals said it was a ghost. Nope. Just bad engineering and a very tired rope. They fixed it with a steel bracket. It hasn’t moved since.

Thomas Rickman - a gallery on Flickr

The Mousetrap in the Vestibule

During a renovation in the 1990s, workers found a Victorian mousetrap hidden behind the altar. It was still cocked. For over a century, it waited for a mouse that never came.

The trap is now in a glass case near the entrance. You can see it today. It’s the ultimate example of “prepared, but never used.”

The Graveyard Bloom

Outside, the graveyard has a peculiar tradition. Every spring, purple crocuses sprout in a perfect circle around one specific grave. Nobody plants them. They just show up.

Locals call it “the nun’s circle.” It’s a nice, weird mystery. Don’t worry, nobody’s selling tickets. You can just wander and look.

Redditch, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church. | Flickr

The Shoe on the Roof

This is my favorite. On the church’s south-facing roof, there is a single Wellington boot. It’s been there since 1987. Nobody knows how it got up there.

A prank? A miracle? A very ambitious pigeon? The parish council voted not to remove it. It’s now part of the building’s character. You need binoculars to see it. Bring some.

Why You Should Visit

It’s not a tourist megastar. You won’t find gift shops or queue for an hour. But if you love quirky, accidental history, this is your spot.

Go on a Sunday. The 10 a.m. Mass has a folk choir. They’re great. After, ask a parishioner about the boot. They’ll smile and shrug. That’s the vibe here.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a hidden gem. It’s a church with a mousetrap, a boot, and a bell that noped out. What’s not to love?