Church Of St Katharine

The Church of St Katharine is a church dating back to around 1300, with additions and alterations from the 15th century and around 1530. The nave and south aisle were substantially rebuilt in 1855 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The church is constructed of ashlar and rubble magnesian limestone, with lead and stone slate roofs.

The west tower has four stages; the lower part dates from around 1300 and was altered, while the top stage is in the Perpendicular style. It features a chamfered plinth, moulded band, and diagonal west buttresses, with string courses between the stages. A pointed west door, offset to the left, has a quadrant-moulded surround. Above it is a 3-light window; the third stage has a Perpendicular 2-light window. Below the belfry are louvred, 2-light pointed windows, with gargoyles to the north and south, and an embattled parapet topped with eight crocketed pinnacles.

The nave has a gabled porch from 1861. The south aisle has chamfered plinths and trefoiled 2-light windows with hoodmoulds, set beneath an oversailing parapet with roll-moulded copings. Square-headed, cusped 2-light windows with hoodmoulds are also present. The chancel is lower, partly roughcast, and has two 19th-century windows to the north with cusped intersecting tracery, carved hoodmould stops, and gable copings. A similar 3-light east window is also present.

The Wirral chapel, dating from around 1530, is built of ashlar and has a chamfered plinth. It features 2-light windows to the south and east with Tudor-arched lights in hollow-chamfered surrounds, beneath basket arches. An arched string course is above the east window, and an old flush-panelled door is set within a hollow-chamfered and roll-moulded surround displaying the Wirral arms. A further heraldic plaque is on the south side; a quadrant-moulded oversailing course sits beneath roll-moulded parapet copings.

Inside, the tower has a chamfered and quadrant-moulded arch. The Perpendicular south arcade has octagonal piers, moulded capitals, and low double-chamfered arches with hoodmoulds. Shouldered-arched window heads are from the 19th century. The chancel arch is double-chamfered, with the inner order on corbels, one featuring a carved head. The chapel arcade is Perpendicular, similar to the aisle, and to the east is a section of an earlier window concealed behind plaster. A font with a round bowl on a chamfered shaft is also present. Fittings include two stalls in the chancel with misericords depicting bearded faces from the 14th century, and another stall of the same date, altered. Painted arms of George III (1785) are displayed over the chancel arch, alongside a hatchment of the Banks family. A tomb to Sir William Wylson (d.1513) is in the chancel, with a Latin rim inscription on its floor slab. In the chapel, there is an early 14th-century effigy of a knight with a shield and sword, and another chest tomb with shields in quatrefoiled side panels. A brass memorial is dedicated to Benjamin Staveley. A wall monument to William Dixon (d.1783), by Materworth of Doncaster, features a corniced plaque surmounted by a bust set on an obelisk. Carvings over the chapel arcade depict the Wirral arms and those of Hugh Wombwell of Greasbrough (John Wirral married Mary Wombwell around 1520).