Church Of St Matthew

The Church of St Matthew is a parish church built between 1836 and 1838 by architects O B Carter and W C Yonge, with the nave, apse, and aisle added in 1875 by T H Wyatt for Charlotte Yonge. The church is constructed of blue brick in header bond with limestone dressings and a slate roof. Its layout features a polygonal apse attached to a short chancel and nave, with transepts, a south porch, and a north vestry, along with an added north aisle.

The apse has a high plinth with a stone offset and buttresses at each corner and against the wider chancel. It features a decorated three-light east window and two-light windows. The chancel bay includes a trefoiled window to the south and an outshot to the north. The tall gabled transepts have diagonal buttresses, a tall three-light window, and a triangular trefoiled window in the gable, with a square stone porch to the south. The nave and aisle are adorned with two or three-light cinquefoiled windows, with buttresses in between and diagonal buttresses on the west side. The west end has a large three-light cinquefoiled window and a west door with a gabled hood on moulded brackets, all made of stone.

A stone parapet surrounds the chancel and apse, featuring stone finials on the buttresses. The rest of the church has a higher brick and stone parapet, with a west gable bar and a stone polygonal bell turret without a roof. Inside, there is a stone reredos around the apse with painted figures in relief, along with unusual patterned 19th-century floor tiles. The altar rail is a low balustrade with carved openwork foliage and figures, likely from the late 17th century and Flemish in origin. A tall screen in carved timber was erected in memory of Charlotte Yonge in the early 20th century, and there is a carved timber pulpit in the northeast corner. The pews are a 19th-century version of medieval stalls, and the steep roof features arched braces with a type of hammerbeam below and above, made of thin timber, along with Perpendicular panels with cusped arches. The north aisle consists of five bays of pointed arches.