Church Of St Catherine

Church of St Catherine

A parish church founded in the 13th century for Deerhurst Priory, with significant additions and alterations spanning the 14th and late 15th centuries. Minor changes were made in the early 18th and early 19th centuries, followed by major restoration work in 1885. The building is constructed of random rubble blue lias stone with ashlar dressings, the west tower and base rendered in ashlar with ashlar bands at the string courses. The vestry has plain render lined as ashlar. The roof is covered with stone slates.

The church comprises a nave and chancel (undivided), a south transept, a south porch, a west tower, and a north vestry.

The south facade features a three-stage tower on the left with diagonal buttresses and a heavily-moulded plinth. A moulded string course runs across, above which sits a blocked window with a flat head and hoodmould with square stops; the opening is infilled with rendered brick and conceals a diamond-set clock face. Above this is another moulded string course, followed by a two-light Perpendicular tracery window with stone louvres and a hoodmould with circular stops. A moulded string course with grotesques at the corners and centre supports a crenellated parapet. The plinth returns on the west wall of the nave. An open, gabled porch projects to the right, with corner posts and a cambered tie beam forming a three-centred arch, curved struts above, and decorative bargeboards. The interior of the porch has sides framed below with backed boarding and open mullions above. Behind the arched doorway are nook shafts and a hoodmould, with a boarded door. The wall above the porch shows disturbance. To the right is a two-light Perpendicular tracery window, with the jambs of a blocked doorway below. A slightly-projecting eaves course runs along the nave wall.

The transept projects to the right, with a low plinth. On the left return is a disturbance, possibly from a blocked door. A lancet window with a cinquefoil head (in a single stone) is present, alongside a two-light window with reticulated tracery in the gable. A parapet gable with a cross-gablet apex sits above. A lancet with an ogee head appears on the right return. The chancel south wall on the right has a blocked doorway with a steeply-cambered head cut from a single stone, a blocked flat-headed window, a buttress, and a window with an ogee head and pierced spandrels. A memorial tablet to Reverend R. Huntington (died 1664) with a scrolled top is positioned here, relating to a headstone below. Heavy timber eaves overhang this elevation.

The east end features angled buttresses on each side, a low plinth of better-squared stone, and a three-light Perpendicular tracery window with a hoodmould. Wall monuments flank the window, and a parapet gable with a cross on a cross-gablet apex crowns the elevation.

The north side has a two-light Perpendicular tracery window with a flat head on the left, followed by two buttresses that form part of the vestry walls. A boarded door on the left return of the vestry has a stone lintel and a reset 13th-century lancet with a trefoil head in the gable. A wide buttress with canted ashlar courses projects further right. Two two-light Perpendicular windows follow, the second having the jamb of a blocked doorway below. Between the windows is a wall memorial to W. Lane (died 1726) with rococo decoration, a swept top, and a cherub's head below, relating to Lane headstones adjoining. The eaves match those on the south side.

The tower on the north side matches the south elevation but has two slits serving a spiral stair and no other opening in the second stage. Carved heads form stops to the hoodmould of the belfry window.

The west face features a plinth and a boarded door with blind Perpendicular tracery to the head, set in a moulded opening. The arch is four-centred with a rounded apex and a hoodmould with large square stops, decorated with leaf and rose carving. Above is a two-light window with Perpendicular tracery and angel stops to the hoodmould, with a moulded string above. A niche containing a headless figure of St. Catherine sits under a projecting head with a crocketed finial. The top stage matches the south elevation.

Interior

The nave and chancel have plastered walls with arches opening to the transept and tower; the latter lacks capitals. A glazed, traceried wooden screen was inserted in the tower arch during the 1885 restoration. The roof above features collar rafters with a collar purlin, straight braces, ashlar pieces, and isolated tie beams. A piscina with a crocketed ogee head is present in the chancel, and another with a plain head in the transept. The transept roof was remodelled in 1885 with cross-braced collar rafters, and corbels sit either side of the east window.

An octagonal stone pulpit with blind tracery to the sides and a brass handrail to the steps stands in the nave. An octagonal 15th-century stone font with quatrefoils on the sides of the bowl and a plain stem is also present. A small amount of medieval glass survives in the north window. Two boards bearing the Decalogue with bolection-moulded frames date to 1738, and a benefactions board of 1773 hangs in the tower base. Rear pews from the 17th century have moulded top rails, plain ends, and panelled backs. Chests from the 17th century and 1742 are stored in the vestry. Four marble monuments from the early to mid-19th century stand in the chancel, one carved by Physick of London.

Historical Development

The oldest surviving structure dates to the 13th century, with the nave and chancel roof belonging to the 13th or 14th century. The transept was added in the 14th century in the Decorated style, and the tower was constructed in the late 15th century. A gallery was inserted by 1735. The major 1885 restoration removed the gallery and plaster ceiling (which had formed a barrel vault), refoofed the transept, blocked doors either side of the nave, and created a new door with a newly erected porch using the 15th-century end of the former north porch.