Church of St Catherine

This parish church displays mainly Geometric and Decorated architectural styles. It comprises an aisled nave with western tower and spire, north porch, and a lower, narrower chancel. The building is constructed primarily of rubble stone with tooled quoins in the nave, and features slate roofs behind coped gables set on moulded kneelers.

Exterior

The main entrance is on the north side. The porch is buttressed on the right side and has a pointed arch entrance with two orders of continuous chamfer and a hood mould. A small cusped window is set in the right side wall. Inside the porch is a nave doorway with a pointed boarded door fitted with strap hinges. To its right is a stoup mounted on a moulded shaft. On the left side is a doorway to the north chapel, which has a shouldered lintel and boarded door.

Projecting to the left of the porch is the two-bay north aisle, built of snecked stone with freestone quoins and a central buttress. It features a moulded cornice with lions' head water spouts. The aisle has gabled three-light geometrical windows under hood moulds with linked moulded sills. The two-light east window displays similar tracery.

The chancel has simple Decorated windows. The two-light north window and three-light east window contain pointed trefoils, the former set in plate tracery. Above the east window is a re-set stone bearing a Celtic cross in low relief. On the south side of the chancel is a single cusped window and an organ chamber positioned at the end of the south aisle. Both the organ chamber and aisle have walls of snecked, rock-faced stone with freestone dressings and buttresses. The organ chamber has a boarded east door and two pairs of cusped lights in the south wall.

The higher three-bay south aisle features a central shallow porch under a steep roof, with a boarded door and blocked side windows. In the right-hand bay is a pair of two-light windows with pointed trefoils in plate tracery. In the left-hand bay are two pairs of simpler cusped lights. To the right of the porch is a re-set memorial tablet to Catherine Jones (died 1717). Further right is a medieval re-set crudely carved face in red sandstone. The two-light west window also has a pointed trefoil in plate tracery.

The slightly stepped three-stage tower has banding between stages and deep angle buttresses in the lower two stages. In the lower stage is a west window of two cusped lights. The middle stage has a narrow window in each face. Paired cusped bell openings contain louvres. The ashlar broach spire has lucarnes in the main directions and an upper tier of smaller lucarnes in the intermediate directions.

Interior

The nave has scribed plaster walls and a three-bay collar-beam roof on corbelled brackets. The two-bay north arcade has 13th century style round pier and responds, moulded capitals and pointed arches with two orders of chamfer. A wooden balustrade between arches separates the Bulkeley aisle from the nave and has a gate at the right end allowing worshippers to proceed to the chancel for communion. The three-bay south arcade has 14th century style octagonal piers with moulded capitals, and arches with two orders of hollow mouldings. The segmental-headed tower doorway has a boarded door with iron studs.

The north aisle has a faceted roof with moulded ribs, square foliage bosses and an embattled cornice. The south aisle, which is faced in brick and painted white, has a three-bay arched-brace roof on heavy shafts and corbels. Its south windows have broad colonettes.

The steeply pointed chancel arch has two orders of continuous chamfer. The chancel has a three-bay collar-beam roof on corbelled brackets. On the south side is a pointed arch with continuous chamfer leading to the organ chamber, and a doorway to its left with similar detail. The sanctuary has a diaper marble floor added in 1902 and a wooden reredos with blind ogee-headed arcading, brattishing, and a central mosaic incorporating an IHS monogram. The organ chamber is faced in brick and painted white.

The font has an octagonal bowl with two ogee-headed panels to each facet, moulded stem and base, and a marble-lined bowl. Pews and choir stalls are simple late 19th century work. The wooden pulpit, dated 1898, is polygonal with a panelled front, on a low round pedestal. Spanning the chancel arch is a low wall in imitation of a screen base.

Memorials

There are numerous memorials, some of which were salvaged from the earlier church on the site. In the centre of the chancel north wall is a large wall tablet to Henry Whyte (died 1728) with double inscription panel framed by pilasters with scrolled sides, apron with low-relief cherubs, elliptical pediment with keystone, achievements to the right and left and surmounted by a bust in the centre. To its right is a Gothic memorial to Sir Robert Williams (died 1830) and his wife Anne (died 1837). An inscription panel is framed by a quatrefoil frieze across the base, panelled polygonal shafts (thinner to the upper portion) flanking a canopy of nodding arches, surmounted by a rich frieze. On the left side of the north wall is a smaller Gothic wall tablet to Ann Williams (died 1858). It has a pointed inscription panel within a surround decorated with low-relief foliage and two angels, under a crocketed gable. A lower panel by White of London is in a different style, and comprises crossed torches and a wreath.

The east wall of the chancel has a small memorial to Jane White, comprising inscription panel with slate surround, apron, entablature and achievement. A simpler tablet is to Eliza Wilmot (died 1887), and a brass plaque to Robert Williams (died 1865) is by Hart & Son of London.

In the nave west wall is a wooden plaque over the tower doorway commemorating the completion of the new church in 1845. To its right is a memorial to Emma Jones (died 1786), comprising inscription panel over an apron with coat of arms, and beneath a steep pediment with urn. Below it is a white marble panel with grey marble surround to Elizabeth Jones (died 1813). Further right is a memorial to John Hampton Hampton Lewis (died 1843) by C.M. Seddon of Liverpool. It has a tapering panel, scrolled sides over a moulded base, and pediment with achievement. On the left side of the tower doorway is a simple marble tablet to Justina Morgan (died 1851) and a simple tablet with moulded surround to Joseph Hampton Hampton (died 1878).

In the nave north wall are two plain panels commemorating Charles Lewis (died 1844) and Owen Owen (died 1857). A slate panel to William Dalton (died 1763) has an inscription below a coat of arms in low relief. In the south aisle east wall is a large brass plaque commemorating all the members of the Hampton and Hampton-Lewis family of Hennllys who were buried at Llanfaes between 1460 and 1946. Below it is a triple brass plaque to three members of the family who died in the period 1906-12. In the north aisle is a large brass plaque commemorating Thomas James Williams Bulkeley (died 1887) by Matthews & Hodgson of London. It comprises three Gothic arches with central inscription panel and guardsmen under the outer arches. To its right is a Gothic wall tablet with inscription panel framed by a cusped arch, foliage cornice and crowned by a frieze of flowers.

Stained Glass

Several windows contain stained glass. The east window depicts the Resurrection. The chancel south window has a re-set figure of St Peter, possibly from the older church. In the chancel north wall is the baptism of Christ. In the south aisle, the window near the east end depicts the Nativity and resurrected Christ in one pair of lights, and Saints Catherine, Nicholas and Maurice in the other pair, the latter dated 1964 and probably by Martin Travers (the monogram is partly obscured). In the window near the west end the left-hand pair of lights depicts Christ as the Good Shepherd, by T.A. Gibbs and W.W. Howard, and the right-hand pair the New Testament scene 'Suffer little children'. The west window has two angels. In the north aisle a commemorative window on the west side has three angels and two earthbound mourners, dated 1884 by Ward & Hughes of London. The window on the east side, dated 1885 and probably also by Ward & Hughes, shows the Crucifixion.