By making use of the Cauchy double alternant and the Laplace expansion formula, we establish two closed formulae for the determinants of factorial fractions that are then utilised to evaluate several determinants of binomial coefficients and Catalan numbers, including those obtained recently by Chammam [‘Generalized harmonic numbers, Jacobi numbers and a Hankel determinant evaluation’, Integral Transforms Spec. Funct. 30(7) (2019), 581–593].