Church Of St Matthew

The Church of St Matthew, Ipswich

This is a medieval church of considerable size, first recorded in the 12th century and substantially developed during the late 14th and 15th centuries. It underwent major enlargement in phases during the 19th century and now stands as one of the largest churches in Ipswich.

The building is constructed of flint rubble with stone dressings and small areas of brick repairs, with tiled and leaded roofs. The plan comprises an aisled nave, a chancel with a south chapel and porch, north vestries, and a west tower.

The exterior displays Perpendicular styling, though much of the visible work dates to the 19th century. The clerestory, dating to the late 15th or early 16th century, contains two-light openings in square heads. The south aisle, rebuilt in the 19th century, features tall windows in 15th-century style and an embattled parapet with flint flushwork decoration. The south chapel contains 16th-century-style windows with four-centred heads. The chancel has a large east window with 19th-century vertical tracery and a round opening on the north side. Remains of the medieval north chapel, with some brick repairs, are visible externally behind the 19th-century north chapel and vestry complex. The north aisle is embattled and contains Perpendicular-style windows and an extremely large west window. The west tower, dating to the late 15th century, is unbuttressed with three stages: the lowest contains a Perpendicular west door and window, the second stage has small windows, and the bell stage has larger two-light openings. The upper part of the tower was rebuilt in 1884 with an embattled parapet featuring open tracery above a flushwork frieze.

The interior is painted and plastered, creating a very spacious effect due to the widening of the aisles. The four-bay arcades are Perpendicular in style: the south arcade dates to the late 14th century with paterae on the capitals, while the north arcade is 15th century. A Perpendicular chancel arch with many small mouldings and a tall tower arch with mouldings dying into the walls define the chancel entry. A squint to the north of the chancel arch gives views into the chancel and contains a piscina and shelf; to the south of the arch is the door to the former rood stair. A two-bay 19th-century Perpendicular-style arcade connects the chancel to the south chapel, with an extremely wide 19th-century arch opening from the south chapel to the aisle. Two arches connect the north aisle to the north organ chamber and chapel, with another linking the chancel to the organ chamber. The chancel features a fine medieval arch-braced hammerbeam roof with carved and gilded angels below the principals. The nave and aisles have 19th-century roofs with pierced tracery in the spandrels and above the tie beams.

Principal fixtures include an outstanding and well-preserved 15th-century font carved with Marian scenes and the Baptism of Christ. Six panels from an early 16th-century rood screen, reused in the north aisle, feature episcopal saints and lay donors. A piscina is located inside the squint adjacent to the chancel arch. Screens between the chancel and south chapel date to the 1890s, made by John Groom to designs by John Corder. A 19th-century pulpit was carved by Groom, and the high altar and reredos were designed by Corder. The church contains good 19th-century stained glass, including a chancel east window of 1894 by Ward and Hughes, with further Ward and Hughes windows in the north aisle and south chapel. The south chapel east window dates to 1853, designed by Frank Howard and made by George Hedgeland. The south aisle includes a window of 1884 by W H Constable. Monuments include two 17th-century wall tablets with kneeling figures: one commemorates Anthony Penning (died 1630) with reclining putti on top, and the other commemorates Richard Cock (died 1629) and features garlands and fruit swags.

By the late medieval period, the church had acquired north and south aisles, a west tower, and a south porch. Most surviving work dates to the late 14th and 15th centuries. The lay donor figures on the rood screen fragments likely represent members of the Guild of St Erasmus, known to have existed in the church during the early 16th century. Located outside the medieval city walls, the church became the garrison church for Ipswich Barracks and was greatly enlarged in successive 19th-century phases. The medieval south porch was demolished when the south aisle was widened in 1845. The south chapel and its small porch were built in 1860. The east wall was rebuilt in 1866 and again altered in 1890. The north aisle was rebuilt and enlarged in 1876 following designs by the renowned church architect Sir George Gilbert Scott. The upper part of the tower was rebuilt in 1884.