Church Of St Matthew

The Church of St Matthew is a church rebuilt in 1820-21 by Francis Goodwin. The chancel, however, dates to the late 15th century and was restored in 1877-80 by Ewan Christian, incorporating earlier remains. The chancel is constructed of sandstone, while the remainder of the building is faced with Bath stone. The church comprises a nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, transepts, a south-west tower with a spire, and a chancel with a crypt and a north organ chamber. Windows have pointed heads and cast iron Perpendicular tracery. A gothic portal is located at the west end. The tower is in three stages with angle buttresses and a stone spire set back behind a pierced parapet with corner pinnacles. The base of the tower forms a porch, featuring a moulded pointed doorway. The chancel windows have pointed arches with Perpendicular tracery restored in 1877-80; it is four bays wide on the south side, separated by buttresses, and of two bays on the north. A doorway with a chamfered surround and pointed head is located in the third southern bay, and a pointed arch opens into a rib-vaulted passage under the east end in the fourth bay. Inside, the nave has five-bay arcades with iron piers on stone bases. The flat nave ceiling has a plaster fan vault with pendant bosses. Galleries are located on the north, south, and west sides, with timber fronts featuring blind tracery decoration. An early 15th-century octagonal alabaster font is decorated with shields of arms, and has a lead lining dated 1712. The pointed chancel arch is moulded. A timber screen dates from 1915. A window with original 15th-century tracery is on the north side of the chancel, now partially covered by the 19th-century organ chamber. The triple sedilia and piscina are 19th-century restorations. The open timber roof over the chancel has three trusses with short king-posts rising from tie-beams, braced to the ridge, with tracery infilling. The choir stalls incorporate some 15th-century woodwork, including poppy heads and a series of 18 misericords. A late 13th-century crypt, with two bays of quadripartite vaulting and two lancet windows, is located under the western end of the chancel, with a 15th-century tunnel-vaulted crypt to the east.