Church Of St Katherine, Holt, Wiltshire, BA14 (Grade II*)

ST 8661 HOLT CHURCH STREET (north side)

10/32 Church of St Katherine

13-11-62

GV II*

Anglican parish church. C15 tower, rest rebuilt 1891 by C.E. Ponting. Dressed limestone, Welsh slate roof with coped verges. Plan: west tower, aisled nave, south porch, chancel with north vestry. 1890s gabled porch with moulded pointed C13-style archway, stone carving of St Katherine in trefoiled star over door, saddleback coped verge with finial. South aisle has two 2-light Tudor-arched windows in Perpendicular style with mask terminals to hoodmoulds to left and right of porch, moulded cornice to battlemented parapet with corner pinnacles, square-headed 3-light west and east aisle windows. Nave clerestory has four 3-light square-headed windows, gableted pilasters to east and west corners. Chancel has three 2-light square-headed south windows, gableted angle buttresses with pinnacles and 5-light Perpendicular style east window with ogee hoodmoulds, 1890s north vestry has pointed moulded doorway, pointed mullioned and transomed window and stack with traceried panels. North aisle has two-light mullioned windows with Tudor-arched lights and hoodmoulds, buttresses with pinnacles carried above parapet, fielded inscription panels reset along base of wall, probably from chest tombs, 3-light square-headed west aisle window. C15 three-stage tower has moulded plinth, diagonal buttresses, string courses, Tudor-arched west doorway with double planked doors, 3-light Perpendicular window over, string course to middle stage with large canopied image niche with 2 relief-carved wheels of St Katherine below, north and south sides have deeply recessed Tudor-arched lancets with hoodmoulds. Bellstage has 2- light pointed stone louvres, moulded string course with gargoyles to battlemented parapet with carved Katherine wheels, corner pinnacles, saddleback tower roof, shallow projecting stair turret on north side with arrowloops. Interior: Four-bay C19 nave roof with hammer-beam trusses and brattishing, 4-bay arcade with moulded pointed arches on cavetto- moulded octagonal piers, string course below clerestory. Lean-to aisle roofs on stone corbels, moulded elliptical archway at east end of north aisle through to vestry. C15 double-cavetto-moulded tower arch, coping of former steeper nave roof visible on wall above, narrow Tudor-arched doorway to stairs. Pointed chancel arch with triple shafts, brattished capitals. Chancel has pointed barrel-vaulted boarded roof with ribs, brattished frieze, moulded elliptical archway to organ chamber and vestry with angel carved on keystone. Tiled floor, 2-seat sedilia with crocketed canopy on south wall, 2-bay piscina and aumbry on north wall. Fittings: Vine-leaf carved stone reredos, Perpendicular stone altar, brass and wooden communion rail, 1890s seating throughout and wooden pulpit with traceried panels, given by Rev H. Moseley 1891. C12 cylindrical stone font bowl with scallops and chevrons, reset on vase pedestal. Some good stained glass; unsigned east window in memory of Edith Mackay died 1886, south east aisle window by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, 1925. Monuments: Two hatchments in tower. South aisle has 2 coloured marble tablets with draped urns by Brewer of Box, to John Godwin died 1790 and to Mary Tayle died 1802, painted stone tablet to John Shewring died 1691 with cupids and bay leaf oval panel with inscription, several early C18 tablets with semi-circular headed tops, e.g. to Richard Earl; died 1718. Baily monuments in tower include moulded stone tablet with scrolled pediment with arms, to Elizabeth Baily, died 1705, large stone tablet with drapery and gadrooned apron to Jonathan Godwin died 1761. In north aisle are C19 classical black and white marbles and tablet with draped urn to Francis Pont died 1784, by Reeves of Bath. (N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Wiltshire, 1975)