The Anglican Church of St Catherine at Montacute within the English county of Somerset was first built in the 12th century.

St Catherine's was built in association with the Cluniac Montacute Priory becoming the parish church after the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

It is not known when the first church was built on the site, however it was before 1035 when a black crucifix or Holy Rood was discovered within the grounds of the manor owned by Tofig.

[2] The oxen pulling the wagon (six red and six white in one version of the tale) refused to move until he said Waltham in Essex, where Tofig already had a hunting lodge.

In the meantime, Tofig rebuilt the church at Waltham to house the cross, on which he bestowed his own sword, and his second wife Gytha (or Glitha), the daughter of Osgod Clapa, adorned the figure with a crown, bands of gold and precious stones.

It was at Tofig's wedding at Lambeth on 8 June 1042 that King Harthacnut suddenly died of a convulsion "while standing at his drink".

The Holy Rood is said to have foretold Harold's defeat at Hastings: on the way there from the Battle of Stamford Bridge he stopped off at Waltham Abbey to pray, and the legend is that the cross "bowed down" off the wall as he did so, taken as a portent of doom.

There is little evidence of this, though fire-reddened carved stonework, said to be from this church was reused in the lower courses of the rear of the village school kitchen.

[18] An Anglo-Saxon Hamstone font lay unidentified in the churchyard for many years, but has now been reinstated replacing its Tudor successor.