Parish Church Of St Matthew

The Parish Church of St Matthew is a Grade II* listed building located in Butterleigh. It features a medieval tower, which may date back to 1319 when Bishop Stapledon dedicated a rebuilt church on this site. The church includes a 14th-century south doorway, while the north wall and chancel, along with much of the rest of the structure, were likely rebuilt in 1861 by an unknown architect. The arcade appears to be early 19th century. The church is constructed of coursed rubble with a slate roof and consists of a west tower, nave, north aisle, south porch, and chancel.

The tower has two stages and is topped with a battlemented parapet. It features a rectangular stair turret on the south side with a lean-to concreted roof, large breschia block quoins, and square-headed two-light belfry openings with chamfered mullions and jambs. There is a trefoil-headed lancet on the east side, just above the nave roof ridge, and a three-light Perpendicular west window. The west doorway has a variant of wavy moulding. The north aisle's west wall is flush with the tower's west face, and the east and west windows of the north aisle, along with the chancel's east window, are all three-light with hood moulds and terminals. There are three two-light windows in the north aisle's north wall, one in the north and south of the chancel, and another in the nave's south wall, all flush with trefoils or simple roundels in the top lights, dating from the 19th century. The church features heavy gable coping and crosses, with one diagonal buttress at the angle between the nave and chancel to the south.

Inside, there is a medieval tower arch with two orders and a 13th-century trefoil-headed piscina in the sanctuary's south wall. The 19th-century arcade has slender piers with square profiles, chamfered edges, moulded capitals, and segmentally-headed arches with single moulding and flat soffits. The chancel arch, also from the 19th century, has two orders with large heads for corbels. The ceilings are panelled and ceiled. The font, dating from the 12th or early 13th century, has a plain circular bowl with a chamfered rim and a circular stem with a moulded base. There is a 17th-century pillar alms box that is painted. Notable glass includes the North aisle Noon memorial window from 1926, created by Morris & Co.