Church Of St Matthew

The Church of St Matthew is a Gothic Revival church built in 1874 by W. Swindon Barber for Major Foster. It is constructed of hammer-dressed stone with ashlar dressings and a slate roof. The church comprises a nave, a chancel with a lateral chapel, a north-west tower, low side aisles, a baptistry, and a vestry.

The four-stage tower has diagonal buttresses to the east with significant batter, topped by a tall, octagonal clasping turret which rises a full stage higher. A north doorway features a two-centred arch at its base, above which is a carved statue of the patron saint in a niche. The third stage incorporates a clock, and the belfry has a tall four-light design with a decorative hoodmould, all beneath an embattled parapet. Angle buttresses embrace the gabled west end of the nave, which contains an impressive window with panelled tracery and a hoodmould forming an ogee. The buttress is surmounted by a crocketed pinnacle.

The nave has four bays, marked by offset buttresses, and an embattled parapet. There are square-headed clerestory windows, and four-centred arched aisle windows, all with panel tracery. An embattled gable separates the nave from the chancel, which has a lower roof with two tall arched windows in its flank walls and a large east window of late 14th century style, with diagonal offset buttresses and an embattled gable. The gabled baptistry projects from the first bay of the south nave aisle, with a coped gable, angle buttresses, and an arch-headed window. The vestry, breaking out of the first bay of the chancel, is similarly treated.

Inside, octagonal columns with moulded capitals support the nave arcade. Coupled colonnettes lead to a tall, pointed chancel arch. The roof is heavily timbered with ten bays of arch-braced construction, featuring alternate ogee arches, brattished collar supports, short king posts with fretted roundels on either side. A carved reredos of Caen stone depicts the Last Supper and is flanked by inscribed tablets with the Creed, the Law and the Lord’s Prayer. Other features include a carved stone piscina and sedila. A small oak screen separates the chapel. A marble altar of classical design is also present.

Furnishings include a fine brass lectern with a Gothic base, altar rails, richly carved choir stalls in the Perpendicular style, and an elaborate carved octagonal font with a tall font cover by James Clinsty (Huddersfield). A similarly carved Caen stone pulpit is also present, as is a coved screen to the west end commemorating victims of the First World War. Small Royal Arms from the earlier Lightcliffe Old Church of Queen Victoria (circa 1840) incorporate an unusual escutcheon of Saxony.