Church Of St Catherine

Church of St Catherine

This church in Ventnor was built in 1836-7 by Robert Ebbels, funded entirely by Mr John Hamborough of Steephill Castle, whose wife laid the foundation stone in June 1836. The building was consecrated on 20 July 1837 and presented to the parish, which had previously formed part of Newchurch parish. The site was provided by Major Charles Poplin Hill.

The church is constructed of local coursed stone rubble in 13th-century Gothic style. The original structure comprises a five-bay nave with a three-stage west tower, which was originally crowned by a tall spire since demolished in 1921 when it was found to be leaning. A two-bay chancel was added in 1849, at which time galleries were erected in the nave. In 1897, the south aisle and south porch were added, probably designed by Edgar J Harvey; a watercolour signed by Harvey in June 1896 confirms his involvement. The south aisle was built as a memorial to the Reverend John Hall Shaw, vicar of the church. In 1910, a chapel was added south of the chancel along with chancel furnishings and an organ case. A clergy vestry of concrete construction was added in 1963 at the east end of the south aisle. A modern northern extension of no architectural interest has since been added.

The west tower rises in three stages with diminishing angle buttresses and a castellated parapet with corner turrets. The bell stage has pierced wooden screens to lancet windows. The intermediate stage features an arched window with paired cinquefoils facing west and a clock face to the south, with an arched entrance below. The north side of the nave has simple lancets with drip-moulding and corbel heads, flanked by angle buttresses. The south clerestorey displays arched windows of three lights with trefoil heads, beneath which the south aisle has arched windows of three lights with drip-moulding, divided by angle buttresses with gabled heads. The chancel has simple lancet windows to north and south, while the east window comprises a triple lancet flanked by single lancets, all with drip-moulding and corbel heads. A projecting gable on the north side of the chancel has a blocked arched window. The south chapel is gabled with kneelers and an arched window with intersecting arches. A projecting porch with an arched entrance, corbel heads and L-shaped stairs with solid stone balustrades serves the chapel. The south porch has a gable flanked by angle buttresses with crockets. The 1963 clergy vestry is gabled with kneelers, end quoins, arched windows to the ends and flat-arched windows to the north side.

Internally, the nave features a decorated queen post roof of five bays; the tie beams have trefoil decoration to the spandrels and are supported on angel corbels. The south arcade has pointed arches supported on clustered columns, which were blocked around 1971 to create a parish hall in the south aisle. The 1849 west gallery has splayed ends and panels of carved quatrefoils with blank shields, supported on four octagonal wooden columns. Photographs from the late 19th century show there was originally a similar gallery on the north side of the nave, which was dismantled in 1971. The south aisle has a sloping roof with angled queen struts and bolted knees, supported on stone corbels. The chancel roof has four simple arch-braced trusses supported on pendant corbels.

Notable fixtures include an octagonal carved stone font and an octagonal carved wooden pulpit. Two funeral hatchments on the west wall of the nave, probably belonging to the Hamborough family of Steephill Castle, hang above a marble wall tablet in the form of a sarcophagus with lions' paws and antefixae commemorating the Reverend Philip William Tallents (died 1843). The south wall of the chancel has a marble sarcophagus-form wall tablet with lions' paws, antefixae and shield commemorating Benjamin Freeman Coleman (died 1838) and John Noble Coleman (died 1872), the church's first incumbent. A wall tablet records that the Reverend John Hall Shaw (died 1897) was commemorated by the construction of the south aisle. Further brass memorial tablets are present. The organ case, chancel choir stalls, lecterns and reredos date from circa 1910. The only pictorial stained glass is in the east window, depicting The Good Shepherd flanked by St Luke and St Andrew, above Jesus the Healer, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.