Church Of St Catherine

Parish church of St. Catherine was constructed in 1842 by M. Habershon, incorporating some earlier medieval fabric. A vestry and organ chamber were added in 1879 by W. Smith. The church is built of sandstone ashlar with slate roofs and stone coped verges. It comprises a west tower, a four-bay nave with aisles, a south porch, and a three-bay chancel with a vestry to the north.

The three-stage west tower has a medieval core, visible as offsets. It has angle buttresses, a hollow-moulded parapet with gargoyles, and a crenellated parapet. A four-centred west door is set within a roll-moulded surround with flanking pilasters and an open pediment supporting a two-light window above, featuring perpendicular-style tracery and a two-centred arch. Rectangular loops are present on the second stage, and the belfry has transomed two-light openings with decorative tracery. A recessed spire has two tiers of lucarnes. The nave and aisles have buttresses demarcating the bays and corners, with two-centred windows containing either Y-tracery or three graded lancet lights, all with hollow-chamfered hood-moulds and head-stops. The south porch has a four-centred entrance arch and a similar open pediment to the west door.

Inside the porch is a two-centred doorway with a dated 1633, nail-studded oak door, complete with decorative wrought ironwork. The chancel has diagonal buttresses and a hollow-chamfered string below a plain parapet, with windows containing cusped Y-tracery to the sides and intersecting tracery to the east. The interior features four-bay nave arcades with tall pointed arches on octagonal columns. The tower arch is of similar height and is of medieval origin, with three continuous chamfered orders around a two-centred drop arch. A pointed and roll-moulded chancel arch is supported by triple shafts with head-carved capitals. A two-bay arcade on the north side provides access to the organ chamber. The nave and chancel have king-post roofs with open arcades between tie-beams and principals. Features include a bellringers gallery with Gothic balustrade, an octagonal font of 14th-century style, simple pine pews, and a red veined marble pulpit on a stone base. Monuments include those to Anthony and Magdalen Grey, 9th Earl and Countess of Kent, dated 1643 and 1653, featuring a massive aedicule with paired Ionic columns and a swan-neck pediment displaying a coat of arms. Another monument is to Blackwell Dakyns, dated 1721, with aedicule and Corinthian pilasters supporting a rounded pediment with a coat of arms. An incised slab commemorates Richard Wightman, who died in 1568.