St Michael's Catholic Church, Catholic church building in central Birmingham, England
St Michael's Catholic Church is a brick Gothic church on Moor Street in central Birmingham, with a slender spire rising above the surrounding buildings. The interior follows a traditional Catholic layout, with pews facing the altar and tall pointed windows running along the nave.
The building was first put up in 1726 as a Unitarian Meeting House, then burned down during the Priestley Riots of 1791 and rebuilt in 1803. It became a Catholic church in 1862, when Irish and Italian immigrants had settled in large numbers in Birmingham.
Services are held in Polish and English on different days, reflecting how the congregation around Moor Street has shifted over time. Attending a service here means sharing the space with two quite different communities gathered under the same roof.
The church sits on Moor Street, close to Moor Street station, which makes it easy to reach on foot from central Birmingham. It is worth checking in advance which days Polish and English services are held, as times can shift throughout the year.
The church has been a Grade II listed building since 1974, which means any changes to its fabric require special approval. Visitors who look closely at the exterior can still spot traces of earlier construction phases going back to the early 19th century.
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