Come and worship Christ the Lord
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Hatcham
Situated on the crest of a hill overlooking Telegraph Hill Park and with wonderful
views down towards the river, St Catherine's was built in 1893-
It is a large church, substantially built, in brick with Ragstone facing and Bathstone weathering stones and window surrounds. The nave is spanned by timber trusses and the roof slopes are finished with Westmoreland slate or Welsh slate. The church has some early English tracery and comprises nave, aisles, chancel, chapel, choir vestry, priests’ vestry, organ chamber and small undercroft. It is in the centre of a largely residential area of fine houses with various schools and colleges.
St Catherine's began in a tin church paid for by the then vicar. Its stone replacement
was built with money provided by the Haberdashers’ Company. It was badly damaged
in 1913 by fire which was blamed (probably wrongly) on suffragettes and damaged again
by an incendiary bomb in 1940 when the congregation moved across the road into Aske’s
Boys' School whilst partial re-
In 1972 the western end of the church was incorporated into the Telegraph Hill Centre, designed by Gordon Cook, to provide a meeting place and resource centre for the local community and it is still very much used as such 30 years later. The former St Catherine's Library (now the Café Orange) and housing on St Catherine's Drive also form part of the complex.
From a lively past and a flourishing present St Catherine's could move onto an exciting future. That future lies in the hands of God and of the people working and worshipping there.
History