Hoarwithy - Church of St Catherine

St Catherine's Church (Historic Churches Trust), perched on a hill above the attractive Wye-side village is one of the most astonishing churches in the county - one that would look more at home in Italy than in Herefordshire.

Little of the original brick chapel of 1843 is visible, for from about 1870 onwards the wealthy Vicar of Hentland, the mother church of the parish, began to transform it in the most lavish and dramatic way. The architect was his friend J.P. Seddon, and the style is described by Pevsner as 'South Italian Romanesque and semi-Bysantine'. One climbs up a steep path to the east end of the church, and passes under the campanile into a cloister which runs along the south side. Its open arches have elaborately carved capitals, and give a delightful view over the village. Inside, the comparatively plain nave is dominated by the astonishing east end. Four monolithic columns of silvery marble with richly-carved capitals support a dome, east of which is an apse covered by a mosaic of Christ the Ruler of the World, on a gold ground. The altar and pulpit are of white marble, the former inlaid with lapis lazuli and chrysolite ('tiger eye'), and the latter with green marble