Church of St Catherine is a Grade II* listed building in the Gwynedd local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 2 August 1949. Church.
Church of St Catherine
- WRENN ID
- sombre-gallery-hawthorn
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Gwynedd
- Constituency
- Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP: Liz Saville Roberts (PC)
- Country
- Wales
- Date first listed
- 2 August 1949
- Type
- Church
- Address
- Church of St Catherine, Criccieth
- OS grid reference
- SH 500 383
- Coordinates
- 52.92148, -4.23146
- Source
- Cadw listing
Description
The Church of St Catherine is a Grade II* listed building featuring roughly coursed and squared stone with slate roofs. The oldest masonry is located at the west end of the current nave and is all that remains of an earlier church on the site. A bellcote is situated on the west gable of the nave, and there is a blind roundel above the doorway, which has a steep voussoir arch and may be the partially rebuilt original doorway from the 13th to 14th century church. The blind west gable of the north aisle has a cross finial and coping.
All the windows were renewed during the restoration around 1870, including three 2-light windows on the south side with pointed lights and flat heads. The east window of the chancel has a similar design but features an arched head. The east window of the north aisle has three stepped segmentally arched lights, which may be a renewed and relocated window from the earliest building.
The nave contains a north arcade of five bays, which was added in 1870 to replace what was described as a cruder arcade from around 1500. This arcade features slender octagonal columns with ring moulded capitals and double chamfered shallow arches. Stone corbels support the curved principal trusses of the roof, which are of early 16th century design but may have been reconstructed during the restoration. The three easternmost trusses are distinguished by cusping on the struts, tie, and purlins, creating foiled openings. There are two similar but undecorated trusses with cusped wind braces to the east of the north aisle, and a curved principal truss of an earlier type towards the west.
Furnishings include 18th century turned communion rails and panelling forming a reredos dated 1679. The pediment over the central section is decorated with fleurons and wheatsheaves, likely added during the restoration. Stained glass in the east window is dated 1873, and in the east window of the north aisle, it is dated 1878. There is a 19th century pulpit and linen-fold panelling in a 17th century style. Additionally, there are three slate wall tablets commemorating dates from 1760-1840, 1787-1823, and 1692-1773.
Local climate
Church of St Catherine sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,550 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 99% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 99% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 20 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 79% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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