Church of St Catherine

Church of St Catherine

Church, 1933-35, designed by A.D.R Caröe and A.P Robinson. The building is constructed of grey-purple and buff-brown brick with a blue-grey pantile roof punctuated by blank parapets. The plan comprises a chancel, low crossing tower, transepts, and nave with north and south vestries and porches.

The exterior displays a subtle combination of elemental Romanesque and modern styles. The chancel features a broken-pointed east window and tall windows to each side. A saddleback-roofed tower oversails the projecting transepts, which themselves have tall windows. The tower is pierced by narrow louvred openings; those to east and west consist of a group of five following the line of the gable. The nave is lit by five tall windows to each side, set in panels framed by thin buttresses, beneath a projecting blank parapet. Small vestry and porch projections exhibit carefully designed shallow planes of brickwork and ornamental doors. The west end features a monumental arch between two tower elements, containing a seven-light window that follows the arch and sits above the bowed projection of the baptistery. The entire exterior demonstrates a finely considered use of the two shades of brick. The church is symmetrically placed opposite the church hall, with which it forms a composed group.

The interior is a masterly composition. Giant semi-circular-headed concrete transverse arches project at intervals along the nave walls, creating side spaces that function like side-chapels, with arches forming narrow chapel aisles. The nave roof between the giant arches is divided into blue-painted panels; the wooden cornice bears finely carved gilded letters forming an inscription. At the centre of each bay hangs a finely carved bracket supporting an elaborate metalwork lantern. The chancel arch is round-arched and carries a pair of finely carved canted pulpits with back panels and elaborate testers backing onto its piers.

The chancel east window contains stained glass above a highly elaborate carved reredos in late Gothic style of white marble with a granite frame. The reredos features centre panels depicting the Nativity, Crucifixion, and Supper at Emmaus with figures in high relief. Below stands a finely carved wooden altar in similar style with Renaissance details. Very finely carved choir stalls in the same style occupy the chancel, with the choir balcony above on the north side and a set of organ pipes on the south, both displaying fine carving. The west gallery has a carved front and is supported on wooden square piers. Beneath it sits the baptistery with a finely carved stone font featuring carved figures in high relief. The font's design is part bowl on a pedestal, with four sides continuing to the ground bearing high relief figures in miniature niches, all standing on an octagonal stepped plinth. Behind the font is a wide bow window with five stained glass windows.

The interior contrasts austere structural lines with elaborate late Gothic and Renaissance-style fittings. The darker nave leads to a lighter and higher chancel, establishing the altar as the clear focal point. The design reflects interwar interest in Southern European styles and may also embody ideas expressed by Sir Ninian Comper at that time concerning 'unity by inclusion'—the combining of Gothic and Classical elements to create a compelling whole—as well as contemporary thinking on widening the nave and bringing the altar into closer union with the body of the church.