Wickford
Essex
Rebuilt entirely 1875-6 by Henry Stone but reusing old material and incorporating a late Medieval roof.
The NE vestry block has a pair of transverse gables forming an M-shape: a C15 window is used in the N wall.
In the chancel the roof is reused work of c.1500 from the earlier church: it has two tiers of purlins and a ridge purlin and bosses at the intersections of the main timbers which are moulded.
Three trefoil-headed panels within the frame contain inlaid stone panels each with blind trefoil-headed arches and a carved cornice.
At the E end the window glass is by A L Moore and Son and commemorates a death in 1919.
HISTORY: The old church was rebuilt in an Early English style in 1875-6 under the London architect Henry Stone Old materials seem to have been reused including the chancel roof of c.1500.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The church of St Catherine, Wickford, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It is a picturesque example of mid-Victorian church-building. * It reuses important earlier material in terms of the late medieval chancel roof and a Butterfield reredos.