Church Of St Matthew (C Of E)

Church of St Matthew (Church of England), Withernsea

St Matthew's Church is a Church of England church built in 1934–35, designed by Sir William Milner of the London-based architectural firm Milner and Craze. The church was built in an Arts and Crafts-influenced medieval style to replace an earlier 19th-century chapel of ease. The foundation stone was laid in 1934 and the church was consecrated by the Archbishop of York in 1935.

The church was not completed to the original design. The western two bays of the nave and a large west tower flanked by porches were omitted from the final build. The design was reported favourably in The Builder magazine on three occasions: in 1934, 1935 and 1938.

Externally, the church is faced with rough red bricks handmade by York and Acomb Brick Co. The interior is faced with light coloured sand-lime bricks by Midhurst Brick Co., with architectural mouldings formed using specially shaped bricks. Areas of plain walling employ English Bond. The roof is covered with triple laid, handmade plain red tiles.

The church has a plan consisting of a nave of three bays with narrow side aisles, all under a single roof that extends to cover the two-bay chancel. Gabled wings extend from the western bay of the chancel: a shorter one to the north forms a porch providing access to the east end of the north aisle; a longer wing to the south forms the choir vestry, which in turn has a short cross wing extending eastwards to form the clergy vestry. Linking the clergy vestry and the chancel is the organ chamber, which continues the line of the south aisle on the east side of the choir vestry. A short bell-cot rises from the angle between the organ chamber and the chancel.

The chancel is marked with a tall two-stage plinth and features deep set, double chamfered lancet windows with one window to each side wall and a triple east window. Above the east window is a ventilation slit in the form of a Latin cross, and the east end is supported by sloped angle buttresses. The roof covering ends with a simple verge with no finial.

The nave and side aisles are under a single roof with a slightly shallower pitch over the aisles. The west end has triple square-headed lancets lighting the nave with a single ventilation slit above. Below the windows is a lean-to roof covering a broad but shallow extension containing the west door and baptistery to the right. The square-headed west double door is formed with broad vertical planks with moulded cover fillets, square-headed nails and strap hinges. The door is flanked by plain square-headed windows and sloped angle buttresses. Each aisle side wall has three five-light mullioned windows beneath Tudor style hoodmoulds, separated by sloped buttresses. Beneath the windows the walls are thickened with six courses of plinth bricks to the thickness of the buttresses.

The north porch has a tall simple plinth and angle buttresses supporting the sides, with a steeply pitched gabled roof featuring tumbling-in brickwork. The entrance is a double-chamfered pointed arch beneath a simple hoodmould, closed with a pair of broad-plank doors of similar construction to the west door.

The vestries have a tall simple plinth and mullioned windows beneath hoodmoulds. The south elevation includes a square-headed priest's door of similar design to the west double door. Junctions between the two vestry roofs and the main church roof all feature tiled valleys. The choir vestry roof has a simple ridge stack.

The organ chamber links the clergy vestry with the chancel and has a single-light square-headed east window beneath a hoodmould. Above is a short bell-cot with a pitched roof housing a single bell.

Internally, the two bays of the chancel are divided by a double-chamfered pointed arch that supports the double purlinned roof. The east chancel bay, forming the sanctuary, is lit by lancet windows with double chamfered reveals. The east windows are filled with pictorial stained glass featuring The Good Shepherd in the central lancet with St Matthew in the left lancet and St Luke in the right lancet. The windows in the side walls are clear glazed with square lattice leaded glass. Below the south lancet window is a brick-built piscina. The west bay of the chancel, forming the choir, has a blank north wall and a double chamfered arch opening to the organ chamber to the south. The organ is flanked by passageways to the two vestries to the south. The choir retains oak choir stalls. Beneath the triple chamfered chancel arch are matching oak partitions with linen-fold panelling that rise from brick plinths to form the pulpit to the north and lectern to the south.

The broad nave is flanked by narrow side aisles. The nave arcades each have three wide pointed arches that are double chamfered, supported on octagonal pillars without bases or capitals. The pillars also support single chamfered arches spanning the aisles as well as brick and tile corbels supporting the roof trusses. The roof structure features three open arch-braced trusses that support double purlins. Each truss has a high collar supporting a kingpost to the ridge plate. The base of each principal rafter is tied to the arch brace with a sole plate. This sole plate is supported on the corbel via a post that is tied to the foot of the arch brace. All joints are wooden pegged rather than bolted. The west wall of the nave is plastered and probably supported by a steel joist, as it is open to the shallow west extension with the lean-to roof. This wall is believed to have been a temporary measure in expectation of the planned addition of two further bays and a west tower.

Inside the west door is an internal storm porch built in oak with linen-fold panelling. To its south is a Lutyens-inspired font formed in concrete with an oak cover. The nave includes a full set of oak pews. The aisle windows have single chamfered surrounds that extend to the floor and feature metal-framed windows with square lattice leaded clear glazing, except for one south aisle window which features a memorial in stained glass.

Both the porch and vestries feature oak doors and built-in cupboards, with windows plain glazed in a similar manner to the aisle windows.

Milner and his partner Romilly B Craze were active Anglo-Catholics with connections with the Anglican Shrine at Walsingham. Their firm designed several mid-20th-century brick churches in the East Riding. St Matthew's Church is a well-executed and carefully detailed design reflecting Arts and Crafts influences. It is little altered and retains original fixtures and fittings of high quality. It represents the work of nationally renowned church architects of the inter-war period, combining traditional detailing and spatial planning with a more contemporary leanness of line and form.