Church Of St Matthew

The Church of St Matthew stands on an ancient site, with the present building dating from the mid to late 11th century. Aisles were added around 1200, the chancel was rebuilt in the mid-13th century, and a south porch added in the early 14th century. The church underwent restorations by Richard Pace in 1829 and Ewan Christian in 1864-7. It is constructed of uncoursed limestone rubble retaining traces of former render, with ashlar dressings. The roofs are of stone slate with 19th-century ornamental tile cresting and 19th-century floriated stone crosses to the gables.

The church comprises a nave, chancel, central tower, aisles, south porch, and a 13th-century staircase projection against the north-east corner of the tower.

Tower

The tower dates from the mid to late 11th century and rises in three stages with a parapet and carved corbel table of around 1200. It has corner pilasters stepped slightly inwards to the top stage, and pilaster strips with stepped capitals and bases to the first and second stages of each face. There is a plain moulded string course and stepped plinth. The north and south sides have narrow double-splayed windows with shouldered heads on either side of the central pilaster strip to the second stage; those on the north are blocked by the later staircase projection.

Paired and louvred round-headed belfry windows to each side have continuous roll-moulding to the arch and jambs. Instead of capitals, there is a band with leaf decoration (now weathered but probably acanthus) carried straight across the moulding and the plain inner order, with a palmette leaf in the spandrel. Forming part of the central pilaster strip immediately above the lower string course on the south side is a relief of two figures in tunics with arms pointing upwards, possibly formerly supporting a sundial. A chamfered 13th-century lancet sits immediately to the right of the pilaster strip on the bottom stage. Low-pedimented gable ends above the corbel table appear on the east and west sides.

Nave and Aisles

Only the west end of the nave is visible. It has two late 12th-century pilaster buttresses to the former angles, given chimney-like pinnacles in the 16th century. The shallow-pitched lean-to aisles have chamfered lancets to their west walls.

The north aisle has two flying buttresses, the western one inscribed "ANNO/DMI/1574/REGINI ELIZABETH/REGINAE DECIMO/SEPTIMO". A 19th-century louvred chimney stands at the centre of the aisle. There is a chamfered rectangular opening (possibly 17th century) to the far left and an early 14th-century two-light window with mouchettes and a quatrefoil to the head and hoodmould immediately to the left of the eastern flying buttress. A doorway of around 1200 sits immediately to the left of the western flying buttress, featuring a richly moulded round-headed arch with chamfered inner order and nook-shafts with weathered leaf capitals. A square-headed late 15th-century window with label to the right of the buttress has three cinquefoil-headed lights with contemporary iron bars. A chamfered 13th-century lancet pierces the east wall.

The south aisle has a late 15th-century window to the west similar to that in the north aisle, with a rainwater head dated "1867" to the right. The gabled porch has a double-chamfered segmental-arched outer doorway with weathered head-stops. Inside, there is a trefoil-headed recess to the east wall. The south doorway of around 1200 is round-headed with three sections of deep roll moulding with fillet to the centre and nail-head ornament to the hoodmould terminating in head-stops.

Re-set over the outer doorway is a large late-Saxon rood sculpture depicting Christ's crucifixion. The attendant figures of the Virgin and St John the Evangelist have been transposed and their heads incorrectly face outwards; the position of Christ's arms is reversed. On the east wall is re-set late-Saxon sculpture of Christ triumphant. The now headless figure is shown with arms outstretched, clad in a long corded tunic weathered smooth on the outer face but arranged in narrow fluted folds to the sides.

An early 14th-century three-light window with reticulated tracery and weathered head-stops to the right is followed by a narrow round-headed chamfered window of around 1200, with a rainwater head dated "1867" between them. A late 15th-century square-headed window with two cinquefoil-headed lights and label sits in the east wall.

Chancel

The chancel dates from the mid-13th century and was apparently shortened by at least one bay to the east before the 19th-century restorations by Pace and Christian. It has a moulded eaves cornice terminating in a carved head to the south-east corner, a sill band, and continuous hood mould. The south side has two sets of paired broad lancets with cusped lozenges to the heads, the eastern with a pilaster buttress beneath the sill band. An infilled priest's doorway to the east has a richly moulded pointed arch with weathered head-stops and a gabled canopy above supported on shafts with mutilated foliated capitals. The rainwater head in the west corner is dated "1864".

The east wall has two windows like those on the south but apparently re-assembled; the masonry to the gable belongs to Christian's restoration. There is a stepped diagonal buttress to the south corner and a 13th-century gabled buttress (probably not in situ) with floriated finial to the north corner. The north side has two windows like those on the south, again with a pilaster buttress beneath that to the east. The rainwater head in the west corner is dated "1864".

The gabled staircase projection against the north-east corner of the tower has a continuation of the sill band from the chancel. It features a narrow chamfered rectangular opening to the apex and two chamfered rectangular openings to the chamfered north-east corner. There is a narrow segmental-headed doorway in the angle with the chancel on the east side.

Interior

The transitional three-bay north and south arcades have round-headed arches with head-stops (including to the spandrels) on tall circular piers with foliated capitals of stiff-leaf type, except the north-west respond which has late Romanesque knob volutes and the south-east respond with archaic upright leaves. They have cruciform abaci and moulded plinths on square bases. The nave has a trussed rafter roof of around 1867 and the aisles have low-pitched roofs, 15th century to the north and 19th century to the south. The chancel has a trussed rafter roof of around 1864. Corbels of a 15th-century flat-pitched roof and the outline of an earlier roof pitch are visible against the east face of the tower.

The tunnel vault to the tower is probably 13th century, but the round-headed east and west arches are 11th century. The eastern arch is tall with a rolled outer order, an inner soffit roll (both continued on the responds), and a plain arch and respond on the east side. These are broken by a band of mouldings in place of an abacus, then bell capitals with roll necking. Bases are also formed from a continuous band. The west arch is a single unchamfered order with large plain imposts and a hood of rectangular section continued down the jambs. Painted consecration crosses appear on the north and south sides. Infilled recessed rectangular doorways high up above the arches on both sides of the tower are also 11th century. An infilled square-headed opening to the south of the west arch is associated either with a former rood loft or a recess for a statue. Traces of steps to an infilled round-headed doorway which led to a former chamber in the porch are visible to the west of the south doorway.

The 14th-century window in the south aisle has an elaborately cusped rear arch with short shafts terminating in head-corbels. The east windows in the chancel have tall ringed nook-shafts. A re-set 13th-century trefoil-headed piscina sits in the infilled priest's doorway and a plainer piscina to the west. A 13th-century aumbry in the north wall comprises two rows of three compartments, gabled to the top.

The polygonal panelled pulpit dates from 1673 and stands on a Perpendicular traceried stone base of 1867. The 15th-century octagonal panelled font has quatrefoils and blank shields. Portions of 15th-century oak screen with open Perpendicular tracery patterns in one-light divisions are reused in screens to the organ chamber and vestry at the east end of the north and south aisles respectively; 19th-century paintings of saints appear on boards within the divisions. An oak parish chest stands in front of the north screen. The Langford clock mechanism of around 1680 (overhauled 1883 and 1978), formerly in the tower, is now in the north aisle by the font. A stone spiral staircase in the staircase projection leads to a chamber on the second stage of the tower.

Stained Glass and Monuments

Stained glass dates from around 1868 in the 14th-century window in the south aisle and early 20th century in the west window of the nave.

In the north aisle are late 17th and 18th-century engraved floor slabs. On the south wall of the south aisle is a memorial with armorial device to Anne Hamersley (died 1694) and a rustic memorial of 1691 to the House family surmounted by a bewigged head with the punning inscription "Within this little house three houses lye". Brass plates in the raised sanctuary commemorate John Copley (died 1634) and his wife Mary (died 1665), and under the communion table are figurative brasses to Walter and Mary Prunes (died 1594 and 1609 respectively). Nineteenth-century armorial brasses are set in the infilled doorway to the west face of the tower.

Historical Context

When Christian restored the church, he removed the 15th-century nave clerestory and re-instituted the higher of the two chancel roof pitches shown by J.C. Buckler in a drawing of 1821 (now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford). The parish of Langford is included amongst the royal estates in Domesday, and this may account for the high quality of the work, which may have been carried out immediately after the Norman Conquest. The late-Saxon features are considered to be the most important in the county. There are well-preserved shrunken village earthworks in the field to the north-west.