Roman Catholic Church Of Our Lady Of Mount Carmel

The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was built between 1855 and 1856 in a style reminiscent of the 13th century. It is constructed of ashlar with stone coped slate roofs. The church comprises a nave with a clerestory, a western bellcote, a chancel, a vestry, a north porch, and a north aisle.

The west end features two stepped buttresses and two string courses. A shaped and gabled statue niche sits centrally, flanked by tall, trefoil-headed lancet windows with trefoils above. Above, there is another trefoil, and to the right of the gable, a double bellcote with mid-wall shafts, pointed heads, and a pierced sexfoil to the gable. A two-light window is situated in the west wall of the north aisle. The gabled north porch features a double, chamfered outer door with a moulded hood. The inner doorway is single chamfered and has a hood with floriate stops. The north wall of the aisle contains four pairs of two-light windows, and the clerestory has alternating trefoil and quatrefoil lights within circular surrounds. The east aisle wall accommodates another two-light window with a trefoil above, and the chancel north wall has two single lights, also with trefoils. The east window is of three lights with cusped heads and a quatrefoil above, all beneath a moulded hood terminating in human head stops. A single-story link connects the former presbytery to the church on the south side of the chancel; the west wall of this link has two pairs of shouldered windows. The south nave wall displays five pairs of trefoil lights with cusped quatrefoils above, separated by stepped buttresses.

Inside, the four-bay north arcade has pointed arches, round columns, and floriate annular capitals. The chancel arch is double chamfered with octagonal imposts, foliate capitals, and a moulded hood with angel stops. A trefoil-headed piscina is found in the north aisle, and a timber gallery rests on octagonal posts at the west end of the nave. The ceilings are panelled and painted. Fittings are all from the 19th century and include fine brass telescopic altar rails. The Sanctuary features an encaustic tiled floor, a stone altar with sacred monograms, and a gabled pyx. A substantial low wooden screen with paired pierced traceried arches and a moulded cornice stands in the north aisle. The stone altar has panels containing carvings of angels holding scrolls, surmounted by a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The church holds a complete collection of contemporary stained glass.

The church’s relocation to Corby occurred in the mid-19th century when the Cliffords, a Catholic family, sold the Irnham Estate to the Protestant Woodhouses.