Church Of St Matthew, With Boundary Walls And Paving

Church of St Matthew, with Boundary Walls and Paving

Anglican parish church built between 1846 and 1847, designed by Manners and Gill, with 20th-century alterations. The building is constructed of limestone ashlar with slate roofs.

The church follows a hall church plan with a wide nave and chancel flanked by full-length north and south aisles beneath separate roofs with triple gabled ends at a common ridge height. A south-west tower with broach spire rises prominently, and a south porch provides the principal entrance. A two-storey wing at the north-east end contains the vestry above a boiler house, with a crypt extending beneath the western half of the main nave and aisles. The design adopts the Decorated style of Gothic architecture.

The tower is positioned in a single bay from the west end and rises in three stages on a very high plinth, buttressed diagonally. The slender octagonal broach spire is set on a Lombard band and rises to 150 feet, featuring two rows of lucarnes on alternate faces and a decorative band near the finial. The top stage contains two two-light louvred windows to each face, with a moulded string above small lancets to three faces and a clock on the west side. Below this is a high storey with a three-light window to the south and a pair of plank doors with decorative strap hinges on the east, under a moulded drip and set on stone steps. The tower is flanked by bays containing two-light windows, with a deep gabled porch to its right featuring a pair of plank doors with decorative strap hinges and a further two-light window. Square and diagonal buttresses with deep plinths and moulded sill bands protect the base. A re-entrant angle contains an octagonal stair turret with a plank door to a shouldered lintel.

The east end is gabled and coped, with three-, four-, and three-light windows featuring cusped lights at transom level, set on a sill band with square dividing and diagonal end buttresses and stepped weathered copings. Original cast iron hopperheads, some stamped with the date 1847, remain at the valleys.

The north side mirrors the south elevation in detail but features a single bay to the west for the vestry extension. At the east are two cusped lancets above a two-light window with a straight head and drip, and a diagonal-plank door to a cusped head. An octagonal turret at the corner has a further plank door and stone pinnacle. The north gable contains a two-light window beneath a large corbel and a stack; the return front has two lancets above two two-light windows.

The west front, set high above a crypt wall, mirrors the east elevation with three-, five-, and three-light windows set in a deep plinths wall with three offsets and central diagonal-plank doors. A steep gabled lucarne is visible at the west end of the nave's south roof slope.

Windows throughout have Decorated tracery featuring ogees and mouchettes, with moulded drip courses terminating in stops.

The interior comprises a broad five-bay nave with a single-bay chancel flanked by six-bay aisles with east chapels. The arcades rest on octagonal piers with square bases and octagonal moulded capitals, supporting double-chamfered arches. The chancel arch and flanking arches are moulded, and the chancel features six-bay decorative stone screens flanking the arches on each side. All roofs are of double collar construction, braced to corbels alternately with shafts to lower corbels at bay spacings, beneath simple panelled soffits.

Floors are softwood plank throughout, except the chancel which is laid in Minton tile with two marble steps to the sanctuary. The altar rail features cusped triangular panels. A stone reredos by C.E. Davies and an octagonal stone pulpit are notable features. A large pipe organ occupies the east end of the south aisle, with a timber screen separating the north aisle chapel. A full-height late 20th-century screen wall has been fitted, closing off the two western bays of the nave and aisles, and a timber screen with Gothick detail and cresting, incorporating the Royal Arms, fills a wide arched opening to the vestry wing. The crypt was not inspected at survey.

The church is enclosed to the west, south, and east by stone boundary walls with heavy coping featuring double-wave mould weathering. The west end features dressed walling set on a battered retaining wall extending across the south aisle and nave only. At street level the boundary returns in a series of steps from the tower base, resuming beyond with an opening to four inset sandstone steps, and continues with a further smaller opening before returning to the full width of the east end. Following the slope of Hatfield Buildings, the east end wall rises well above the plinth level of the building, with a high retaining wall below a bold weathered string.

Across the south terrace of the church and within a sunk well to the east is an area paved with good sandstone flags. These walls and paving form important original adjuncts to the church.

The church was established to supplement the overcrowded St Thomas's church, providing 1,250 new seats, of which 500 were free. At 155 feet with its spire, it is prominently visible over much of the city and stands just above the Kennet and Avon Canal. It is a highly characteristic example of the first wave of Gothic Revival churches, with design that is notably correct and sharp, presenting the appearance of a Victorian church engraving.