Church Of St Catherine

Church of St Catherine

A small Anglican church, reportedly built by the Abbot of Hailes in 1475, probably on the site of a 12th-century church. It was altered around 1800, and some fixtures were installed by Ernest Gimson in 1926.

The exterior is constructed of rubble at the west end of the nave, with random squared and dressed limestone elsewhere. The roof is stone slate with an ashlar stack and a wooden bellcote. The plan comprises a small nave with north and south aisles featuring dormers positioned where transepts would be, a chancel with a parallel vestry on the north side, and a small lean-to on the south.

At the west end, a 20th-century nine-panel door, probably by Ernest Gimson, stands within an 18th-century entrance arch flanked by paired columns. Between each pair of columns are blind trefoil-headed panels linked by a roll-moulded horizontal at the top. A large trefoil-headed window with leaded panes sits within an ovolo-moulded surround, possibly with an earlier hood above. Five 12th-century corbels beneath the bell turret include bears' heads and a pair of human faces.

The south wall features a buttress with offsets at the east end. A three-light window with trefoil heads sits within a four-centred arched surround towards the east; a two-light four-centred arched window with trefoil-headed lights stands towards the east end. A wide blocked pointed-arched opening below the dormer indicates a former crypt. Stone with three differing incised consecration crosses sits west of the dormer sill; fenestration matches that on the north aisle. The chancel south wall contains a wide segmental-headed opening with limestone blocking, within which is the brick head of a smaller segmental-headed opening marking another crypt.

A Perpendicular three-light east window lights the chancel. Two 19th-century two-light windows with cinquefoil-headed lights and moulded hoods appear on the north wall of the vestry. The white weatherboarded bell turret at the west end features cinquefoil-headed two-light openings with wooden louvres, leaded battlements, and a pyramidal roof. Flat and stepped gable end coping crowns the structure. 18th-century pointed finials decorate the east end of the nave and dormers.

The plastered interior contains 20th-century facetted roofs to the nave and chancel, with similar roofs over the side aisles. Flagged and plank flooring was installed in 1926. Perpendicular three-bay arcades rest on octagonal piers with moulded capitals and matching responds. A 14th-century chancel arch with an almost round head and continuous double flat chamfer connects the nave. A wide moulded 19th-century Tudor-arched opening with engaged columns links the chancel to the vestry. A large restored trefoil-headed piscina occupies the south wall of the chancel.

The church contains an Anglo-Saxon stone and a crucifix excavated from Wormington Grange grounds, reportedly originally from Winchcombe Abbey, now reset in the east wall of the south aisle. A 15th-century octagonal stone font features blind quatrefoils on each side.

Furnishings installed or designed by Ernest Gimson in 1926 include simple oak pews, an octagonal oak pulpit with small fielded panels, and a communion rail with turned balusters and lozenge decoration. Rebuilt 17th-century oak choir stalls incorporate large 17th-century carved panels with nulling and guilloche decoration alongside 15th-century stall ends with blind crocketed arches. A mid-to-late 17th-century carved oak chair and a mid-to-late 18th-century chair stand in the chancel. The altar is a simple table presented in 1959. A 17th-century carved oak chest occupies the vestry, and two late 17th-to-early 18th-century chairs with pierced backs and restored seats stand in the sanctuary.

Tapestry curtains hung in the north chancel arch derive from a William Morris design. A stained glass east window by William Morris and Company commemorates Francis Clayton of Birmingham, died 1912. Well-preserved fragments of 15th-century glass appear in the westernmost windows of the north and south aisles.

Monuments line the chancel walls. On the north wall stand a brass memorial plaque of 1900 and an oval slatestone tablet to Samuel Gist, Lord of the Manor, died 1815. The south wall displays a slatestone memorial with decorative border to William Anderson, died 1796; a slatestone monument to John Partridge, former Rector, died 1775; and a slatestone monument with decorative border to James Partridge, former Rector, died 1734, whose inscriptions were exfoliating at the time of resurvey in March 1987. Two simple matching limestone tablets with crudely incised inscriptions below commemorate John Partridge, former Rector, and Mary his wife, died 1700. An early 15th-century incised grave slab depicts a man flanked by two wives with a much-worn inscription round the border. A brass to Anne Savage, died 1605, shows an interesting representation of a lady's bedchamber and dress at the beginning of the 17th century, with two heraldic shields either side. A white and black marble monument to the Honourable Mary Gist, died 1844, appears alongside two other similar 19th-century tablets by Lewis of Cheltenham.