Church Of St Catherine

The Church of St. Catherine is a parish church largely dating to the 13th and 14th centuries, with substantial rebuilding in 1842 for the Reverend F. Hewgill. It is constructed of dressed stone and ashlar, with lead roofs, and features bracketed eaves, coped gables with kneelers. The church comprises a west tower, nave, north and south aisles, a chancel, a vestry, and a south porch.

The west tower, originally from the 13th and late 14th centuries, has two stages, a chamfered plinth, a string course, moulded eaves, and a crenellated parapet. It is topped by a set-back octagonal spire with four gabled lucarnes and a ball finial. The tower’s first stage features a traceried eye-shaped opening to the west. The second stage has altered double lancet windows with flowing tracery and square headed reveal to the north, south, and west. The nave clerestory has two bays on each side, each with two 16th-century style double lancets with hood moulds.

The north aisle, with two bays, includes a double lancet at its west end, and two triple lancets with square heads on its north side, all with hood moulds. The south aisle has a double lancet with geometrical tracery at its east end, a similar triple lancet on its south side, and a double lancet of 13th-century style at its west end. The chancel, with two bays and a lean-to organ chamber to the north, has an untraceried cusped triple lancet at its east end with a depressed head and hood mould. The south side features three buttresses and two double lancets of 14th-century style with hood moulds and stops. The lean-to vestry has moulded eaves and a coped parapet, featuring a double lancet and a Tudor-arched door to the north. The south porch has a pointed doorway with octagonal responds and a hood mould. The church has a common rafter roof.

Inside, the chamfered and rebated 14th-century tower arch contains an organ within a traceried case. The nave arcades, also from the 14th century, have two bays with octagonal piers and responds, supporting double chamfered and rebated arches. The nave has a low-pitched roof with chamfered span beams. The north aisle contains a window by Francis Skeat (1964) and a stained glass window from 1954. The south aisle has stained glass windows from 1947 and 1975, alongside an early 15th-century stained glass panel. Both aisles are covered by lean-to roofs. The chamfered and rebated chancel arch has octagonal imposts. The chancel north side has a moulded doorway, and to the east, a chamfered pointed tomb recess. The east end includes a traceried panelled reredos (early 20th century) and a patterned stained glass window. The south side displays a 14th-century piscina and windows displaying the Arms of Willoughby and Morteyne, dated 1584 and 1310 respectively. Original features include an octagonal font, 15th century, with a traceried bowl, a 19th-century oak poor box, a 19th-century lectern, and a stone font on an oak stand (1892). Furnishings include a 19th-century skeleton pulpit, panelled stalls, and desks. Monuments include an alabaster slab with dentillated edges and shields, two 19th-century scrolled crosses and commandment boards, a cased Roll of Honour documenting 1939-45, and Royal Arms in papier mache.