Varied history of Church
Arthur Ward and Andrew Walker of The Survey of Lincoln examine a longstanding religious site south of the city centre.
Wesleyan Methodists at St Catherine’s planned for the future.
In 1880, a combined school-chapel was built on a substantial piece of ground situated at the junction of St Catherine’s and Colegrave Street, with the intention of building a larger church on the site when funds allowed.
When the larger church was built, the building was deliberately constructed so that it could support a spire in the future, again when finances made it possible.
St Catherine’s Methodist Church, was built in 1880 to a design by Charles Bell, who had offices in London and Grimsby, and was architect of over 60 Wesleyan Methodist churches.
It was extended in 1883 when a vestry was added. In 1887-88, a larger Gothic-style church, again by Bell, was erected alongside. It consisted of a nave, chancel and aisles and was constructed of yellow brick with bands of red brick and lancet windows and a slate roof.
The earlier building became the church hall. The foundation stone of the new chapel was laid on 13 October 1887. A tower, designed by Withers and Meredith of London, again in the Gothic style, and of yellow brick, was added in 1908-9, and built by local builders, S. and R. Horton. As funds became available, additional features were added. In 1933, for instance, hearing apparatus was installed, including small receivers connected with a microphone in the pulpit.
The building narrowly avoided catastrophic damage on 20 March 1939 when a Hampden bomber aircraft crashed next to Boultham Baths, killing its four occupants from RAF Waddington.
As an eye witness reported in the Lincolnshire Echo on 22 March 1939, the plane narrowly missed the church’s spire as the pilot, Robert MacAlister, 23, appeared to have steered the plane away from buildings.
The church closed in 1968. It was then used as a DIY warehouse. Later, it accommodated the St Katherine’s Centre which was opened on 20 February 2010 following extensive renovation with grant aid from both the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage.
The trust which owned and operated the building was forced to close and the buildings were then put up for sale in 2019.
The church is now Southside – an arts and community hub, which celebrated its second anniversary in September 2024.
The site of the church had a long history as a religious centre. It had been occupied by the Gilbertine St Katherine’s Priory from the mid-twelfth century until its dissolution during King Henry VIII’s reign in 1538.
The Priory was a ‘double house’, accommodating both a community of canons, and lay sisters whose role seems to have been serving at the neighbouring St Sepulchre’s Hospital, which cared particularly for orphaned and sick children.
The monastery had substantial grounds elsewhere in Lincolnshire and some in Nottinghamshire. It was a major wool production centre and it had extensive fisheries along the banks of the River Witham.
The body of Queen Eleanor of Castile, wife of King Edward I lay at the Priory on the first of its twelve-day journey to Westminster Abbey in 1290.
During the renovations leading to the opening of the St Katherine’s Centre, archaeological excavations in 2008 revealed evidence of eight separate phases of building and demolition from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Glass flooring in the 1887-88 church building allows viewing of some of the site’s many past lives.
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