Church Of St Catherine

The Church of St Catherine was built in 1840 by Edmund Sharpe of Lancaster. It is constructed of coursed squared sandstone with a slate roof and is designed in the Gothic Early English style.

The church comprises a nave and aisles under a single roof, a south vestry, a short chancel, and a west steeple linked to the nave by a short narthex, with stair turrets in the angles. The square, two-stage tower has gabled sides, angle buttresses, corner pinnacles, and ascends to a tall octagonal belfry, also with gabled sides, topped with a tall octagonal spire featuring lucarnes on two levels. The west doorway has a two-centred arch with a deep moulded surround and a hood mould. Stepped triple-lancet windows are present on each side of the upper stage, with metal clock faces in the gables above. The belfry incorporates slender angle buttresses, a narrow lancet in each side, and a blind multifoil in the gable above, finished with finials. The stair turrets feature angle buttresses rising to pinnacles and a lancet window in each side. The six-bay aisles have small buttresses and parapets with ridged coping, with a pair of lancets in each bay. A low, gabled vestry is set into the south aisle’s sixth bay, with an arched doorway and windows. The chancel has a stepped triple-lancet east window. All windows feature hood moulds with small foliated stops.

Inside, the church has a single vessel and a short sanctuary. There are trefoil-panelled galleries on three sides, supported by cast iron columns, and a west gallery housing an organ. Original box pews were removed from the west end, which is now partitioned off by a glazed screen. The church roof is a queen-strut design with wrought-iron straps. An octagonal pulpit stands on an unusually high, slender pedestal, and a panelled Gothic-style war memorial is located at the west end, dated 1922.

The church forms a group with the boundary wall of the churchyard and St Catherine's vicarage to the south.