Church Of St Catherine

The Church of St Catherine is a parish church dating from the 12th and 13th centuries, with significant restoration carried out between 1885 and 1897 by T.E. Williams. It is constructed of rubble flint and reused stone, featuring stone dressings and an old plain tile roof. The church consists of a Norman chancel and nave, with a 19th-century north aisle that includes a northeast vestry and a south porch.

The east window of the chancel is a 19th-century design with five trefoiled lights beneath a transom and an arched traceried head above. A stepped buttress is located at the southeast corner. On the south wall, there are two 13th-century pointed lancets, one of which has a trefoiled head. The east end of the nave's south wall features a 15th-century stepped buttress, while the center has a 19th-century flint and brick gabled porch, which includes a 19th-century two-light cinquefoiled window to the east. The north wall has an aisle and vestry set back at the east, with a two-light east window, a reset 14th-century pointed doorway to the northeast, and three 19th-century square-headed cinquefoiled windows with a buttress between them, as well as a two-light west window. The west end of the nave has a large 19th-century round-headed window, and in the gable, there are a pair of pointed bell openings with bells dated 1897.

Inside, the east window of the chancel features a double chamfered three-centred rear arch. The north wall has a wide opening for an organ, and in the southeast corner, there is a 13th-century pointed piscina with a restored bowl. The pointed chancel arch, dating from 1885, has a stone screen in its lower half with squints on either side, both of which are poor 19th-century copies of the originals. Remnants of the original jamb of the arch and archway can be seen near the ground. High on the east wall of the nave, to the south, is a 14th-century stone trefoil. The south nave window has an old three-centred rear arch, and a similar arch is found at the west window. Inside, the 19th-century pointed south door is set within an older round-headed opening. The north arcade consists of two pointed arches supported by round columns and responds. There are two small brasses set in a slab in front of the chancel arch, commemorating John Smythe and his wife Alisia, dated 1505 and 1499, respectively. In the southwest corner, there is a Norman Purbeck font from the late 12th century, featuring a square top with patterns on the sides, a round bowl, a central drum, and corner columns on a square base with rounded corners. The roof, restored in the 15th century, has a crown post design with two bays, ashlar pieces, curved braces, and plain posts.