Church Of St Katherine

The Church of St Katherine is a parish church built in 1907 by J O Scott and Son, replacing a church from 1827, which itself replaced a medieval church at Lower Exbury. The building is constructed from coursed squared Swanage stone with Chilmark stone dressings and has an old plain tile roof. It features a late 19th-century Gothic style, with elements of Decorated and Perpendicular styles.

The church has a plan that includes a one-bay chancel and a four-bay nave under the same roof, along with north and south transeptual vestries and an organ chamber. There is a north-west tower and a half-octagonal memorial chapel on the east side. The east end showcases a three-trefoiled-light pointed window, a kneelered gable, and angle buttresses. The wider nave includes gabled transepts with square-headed cinquefoiled windows at the ends, a corbelled bellcote on the south gable, and a chimney on the north side. The central two nave bays feature two cinquefoiled-light pointed windows with a buttress in between.

A gabled porch with a pointed arch is located on the south-west side, while the chapel has a small two-light window on its forward face facing east. The church has an ashlar parapet, and the west end is adorned with a three-cinquefoiled-light window with daggers above. The tower projects to the west and includes a clasping stair turret and pointed two-light windows. The top stage of the tower has two louvred bell-openings with trefoiled lights set back in paired square-headed pointed reveals, topped with a crenellated parapet.

Inside, the church is well-proportioned and features high-quality fittings. The memorial chapel contains a bronze monument by Cecil Thomas from 1919, dedicated to John and Alfred Forster, which includes a soldier's effigy on a tomb-chest with tall candlesticks. There is also a 13th-century Purbeck font, likely from the old church.