Roman Catholic Church of Our Ladye Star of the Sea including its forecourt wall and gate piers

The Roman Catholic Church of Our Ladye Star of the Sea is a Gothic Revival church built between approximately 1846 and 1851, designed by William W Wardell in the style of 14th-century Decorated Gothic. The interior decoration and furnishings are largely by A W N Pugin, with additional work by E W Pugin. The church forms part of a group with nearby 17th- and 18th-century buildings. The tower with its spire is an important local landmark.

The church is constructed of coursed Kentish ragstone with Caen stone dressings and natural slate roof coverings. The building is not orientated according to the cardinal directions; the liturgical east end lies to the southwest. The plan follows a conventional Puginian arrangement with a west tower and spire, a six-bay nave with pitched roof and lean-to aisles, a small chapel off the south aisle, a chancel with one south and two north chapels, and a northeast sacristy, all under pitched roofs.

The substantial west tower has corner buttresses rising to pinnacles, a pierced parapet, and an octagonal spire with two tiers of lucarnes. A pinnacled stair turret sits at the northeast corner. The main entrance in the west face of the tower features a pointed moulded and shafted arch. Above this is a four-light traceried window and an image of Our Lady in a canopied niche. The bell stage has two-light traceried windows on each face. The side elevations display six two-light windows serving the aisles. A gabled doorway opens in the second bay of the north aisle. Clerestories of four foiled circles on each side are positioned irregularly above the aisle windows beneath. A bellcote sits on the east nave gable. The lower chancel is flanked by chapels and has a five-light traceried east window. The forecourt walls are of coursed rubble with ashlar coping. Five gate piers feature dressed stone cross-gabled tops, with a wrought iron overthrow and lampholder spanning the main entrance, present since at least the 19th century and possibly original. Modern railings of Georgian style are not of special interest.

The interior was originally designed with the base of the tower open to a panelled ceiling, with a double-height moulded arch giving access to the nave. A modern timber narthex structure was installed in 1965 and is not of special interest. The tall nave is articulated by six-bay arcades of pointed moulded arches with octagonal capitals carried on octagonal piers of Purbeck marble. The hood mould stops are carved with heads of saints. The small triangular clerestory windows have quatrefoil tracery. The soffits of the nave and aisle roofs originally bore painted decoration but were panelled with tiles in 1965, which are not of special interest. The timber principals and wall-posts of the aisle roofs remain exposed. The original encaustic tile floors to the nave and aisles were covered with cork tiles in 1965, also not of special interest. The north aisle contains a baptistery at the west end with an octagonal Caen stone font carved with symbols of the evangelists, enclosed by a pierced traceried stone screen with metal gates. The south aisle houses the Sacred Heart Chapel, formed in 1891, with the cenotaph of Fr O'Halloran, who died in 1921. The 19th-century timber nave benches are of simple design with pierced quatrefoils in the ends.

The tall pointed chancel arch is carried on shafted responds with floral capitals. Against the north respond stands a tall canopied niche containing a stone statue of the Virgin with Child, designed by A W N Pugin and carved by George Myers. Beside the niche hangs a silver votive lamp in the shape of a ship, given by Sir Stuart Knill, one of the church's benefactors, designed by Pugin and made by John Hardman. The stone chancel screen is also by A W N Pugin, fashioned from Caen stone with marble columns supporting three arches. Above is a rood of painted oak. The chancel features stilted arched openings to the side chapels, a sedilia on the south side, a five-light traceried east window with Pugin glass made by Hardman, two-light side windows, a waggon roof with carved cornice and bosses, and a Minton tile floor designed by A W N Pugin with an inset brass to the North brothers, now beneath the modern nave altar. The high altar of Caen stone with a carved and painted front was designed by Wardell, possibly with assistance from Pugin and Myers, made by Boulton & Swailes, and exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851.

The southeastern chapel dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament has a panelled waggon roof stencilled with circles and quatrefoils, and a carved cornice bearing Latin inscriptions. The wrought iron gates are by Hardman. The altar and tabernacle are by A W N Pugin, and the two-light traceried window contains glass by Hardman. The northeastern Lady Chapel, originally dedicated to Saint Joseph, has a panelled waggon roof. The marble and stone altar and the large carved reredos are by A W N Pugin. A double arched opening with a screen, now glazed, provides access to the vestry space originally intended as an oratory. Beneath the arch between the Lady Chapel and the sanctuary lies a tomb chest with the effigy of Canon Richard North, the church's founder, his feet resting on a poodle. It was designed by E W Pugin and executed by William Farmer.