Church Of St Matthew And St James

The Church of St. Matthew and St. James is a church built between 1870 and 1875 by Paley and Austin. It is constructed of squared rubble with ashlar dressings and has a tile roof. The church comprises a nave with lean-to aisles, north and south porches, transepts, a crossing tower, a chancel with a north organ loft and a south chapel, and an octagonal vestry. It is designed in the late 13th century style.

The west end features a gabled entrance, flanked by paired wide niches, with decorative flushwork and a 5-light window above, and a 3-light window to the south aisle. Paired 2-light aisle windows and a 12-bay clerestory with 2-light windows are also present. Pilaster buttresses and quatrefoil panels are incorporated into the parapet. The gabled porch has niches with statues of patron saints above the pointed entrance. The crossing tower has angle buttresses, a north-east canted stair turret, four windows of two lights to the north and south, a three-faced clock, triple 2-light bell openings with hood moulds and fleurons, and an enriched parapet with pinnacles and a pyramidal roof with an iron finial. A 5-light window is found on the north transept. The chancel has flushwork arcading and a 6-light east window. The south chapel has a 3-light east window and 2-light south windows. The vestry features an enriched parapet, 2-light windows, and a lateral stack.

Inside, the church has 6-bay nave arcades with alternate octagonal and clustered piers, wallpiers to the clerestory, and a waggon roof. An octagonal font has traceried panels and a wrought iron canopy. Features include a low panelled chancel wall with a corbelled octagonal timber pulpit, canopied choir stalls in the crossing, blind arcading in the chancel, a painted reredos with a coved canopy, and sedilia to the south. Stained glass by C. Edwards from the 1950s is found in the east and west windows. The south chapel, a war memorial chapel, has an elaborate hammer truss, and fragments of original glass are in the window heads. A Boer War memorial in Art Nouveau style is housed in the vestry. According to Pevsner, the church is a very good example of the work of Paley and Austin.