St Matthew's Church, Westminster

St. Matthew's Church, Westminster

St. Matthew's Church, Westminster
51°29′49″N 0°7′51″W / 51.49694°N 0.13083°W / 51.49694; -0.13083Coordinates: 51°29′49″N 0°7′51″W / 51.49694°N 0.13083°W / 51.49694; -0.13083
Location	Great Peter Street London SW1P 2BU
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Anglican
Churchmanship	Anglo-Catholic
Website	www.stmw.org
History
Dedication	Matthew the Apostle
Architecture
Architect(s)	George Gilbert Scott
Style	Gothic Revival
Years built	1849-1851
Specifications
Materials	Kentish ragstone, Bath stone dressings^[1]
Administration
Deanery	Westminster (St Margaret)
Diocese	London
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Fr Philip Chester
Laity
Organist(s)	Nigel Groome

St Matthew's Church, Westminster is a Anglican church in Westminster, London. Located in the heart of the capital, close to the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and Church House, St Matthew’s has been closely associated with the recovery of the Catholic heritage of the Church of England from its early days. One of the foremost leaders of that movement, Frank Weston, Bishop of Zanzibar, served at St Matthew’s from 1916-18.

History

St Matthew's was built between 1849 and 1851 to the design of Sir George Gilbert Scott, assisted by his brother-in-law, George Frederick Bodley. Scott's son John Oldrid Scott designed the clergy house.^[2] Subsequently, Sir Ninian Comper added the Lady chapel (approached by the staircase in the Narthex). The interior was greatly enriched by the work of Bodley, Charles Kempe, W.E. Tower and Martin Travers. Kempe and Comper studied under Bodley; Tower was Kempe’s partner and Martin Travers was the pupil of Comper. The adjoining Clergy House was designed by Scott’s son, John Oldrid Scott. The church is in one of the poorer districts of the borough of Westminster.

The church was founded to alleviate the overcrowded St John the Evangelist Church (which has since been deconsecrated and converted into a concert hall) in nearby Smith Square. At that time, the new parish was located close to a slum and the site was purchased piecemeal at a total cost of about £6,000. This resulted in the "very irregular and unfavourable form" of the "L"-shaped church building.^[3]

The church, except for the Lady Chapel, was almost totally destroyed by fire in May 1977. The new church was dedicated in November 1984 and, while much smaller than the previous church, retains much of its atmosphere as well as some of the original stone-work and many of the contents rescued from the destruction.

Architecture and interior

Entering the church, via the narthex, visitors will see a stained glass window of St Michael by Tower. All the stained glass was badly damaged but some of the figures were saved and placed in new settings (most notably the east window and the Annunciation scene in the N.E. window). Here also is Tower’s panel of the crucifixion. The 14 Stations of the Cross line the walls and were sculpted by Joseph Cribb, a pupil of Eric Gill. They trace the final journey which Jesus made on the way to his crucifixion and are used as an aid to prayer and meditation.

The Lady Chapel is the earliest example of Comper’s work in England, and the ‘English altar’ with its riddle posts is, he maintained, the first of its type since the Reformation. The Chapel has been completely renovated, and is used every day for Morning and Evening Prayer as well as for weekday masses. There is a fine statue of Our Lady of Walsingham. Next to the Lady Chapel is the Reconciliation Room, which is used for the hearing of confessions and private discussions.

St Michael’s Chapel houses a stone altar by Bodley, and is open every day for private prayer and reflection. Through the iron-work grille, also by Bodley, can be seen the magnificent reredos by Tower, depicting an amazing variety of saints and angels surrounding the scene of the Nativity. On the High Altar is the tabernacle where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved so that Holy Communion is available at any time for those in need. It also acts as a focus for prayers. This altar contains a relic of St Matthew.

Entering the main church one passes a fine Spanish lectern from the 15th century. The modern statue of Our Lady, Queen of Peace, is by Mother Concordia OSB. The other statues are the work of Tower and depict St Edward the Confessor, St George (with dragon), St Michael and St Matthew. The High Altar and reredos were originally under the east window, surrounded by wooden panelling. This panelling was removed after the fire and beneath it was discovered the mosaic mural and painted arcading you see today.

The recent addition of a modern carving of the Madonna and Child maintains the creative link between the church and the arts. It was sculpted by Guy Reid, a former Artist in Residence at St Matthew’s, and has a real theological intensity.

Parish school

The parish school was opened in 1854 and is located next to the church, at Old Pye Street. Links between the church and school remain strong, with the vicar serving as the chair of governors and the church's pastoral assistants taking an active part in the spiritual life of the pupils.^[4]

Notable clergy

Eric Lionel Mascall, curate
Ernest Perkins St John, vicar 1935- ?^[5]
Frank Weston, curate
Gerard Irvine, vicar

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St. Matthew's Church, London SW1.

↑ Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain and the Museum of Economic Geology in London. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1875. p. 375.
↑ Jennings, Anthony. The Old Rectory: The Story of the English Parsonage. Continuum (Bloomsbury Publishing). p. 154.
↑ Walford, Edward, ed. (1878). "Westminster: Modern Westminster". Old and New London: Volume 4. Cassell, Petter & Galpin (digital version courtesy of British History Online). pp. 35–46.
↑ "About Us: School". stmw.org.
↑ Mascall, E. L. (1992) Saraband: the memoirs of E. L. Mascall. Leominster: Gracewing; chapter 5

"The history of St Matthew's Church". history.stmw.org.

External links

Official Website

Churches in the City of Westminster
Ancient parish churches (pre-1800)	St Anne's, Soho St Clement Danes St George's, Hanover Square St James's Church, Piccadilly St John the Evangelist, Westminster St. Margaret's, Westminster St Martin-in-the-Fields St Marylebone Parish Church St Mary le Strand St Paul's, Covent Garden
Anglican daughter churches	All Saints, Margaret Street All Souls, Langham Place Annunciation, Marble Arch Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks Holy Trinity, Marylebone Holy Trinity, South Kensington St Augustine's, Kilburn St Cyprian's, Marylebone St Gabriel's, Pimlico St James, Paddington St James the Less, Pimlico St John's Wood Church St Mary, Marylebone St Mary on Paddington Green St Mary Magdalene, Paddington St Matthew's, Bayswater St Matthew's Church, Westminster St Paul's, Knightsbridge St Peter, Vere Street St Peter's, Victoria St Saviour's, Pimlico
Royal Peculiars	Henry VII Chapel Queen's Chapel, St James Savoy Chapel St Mary Undercroft Westminster Abbey
Other denominations	Church of our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Westminster Crown Court Church, Covent Garden Dormition Cathedral Enon Chapel French Protestant Church of London, Soho Hinde Street Methodist Church Immaculate Conception, Farm Street Notre Dame de France One Mayfair Church Regent Hall, Oxford Street St Charles Borromeo Church, Westminster St James's, Spanish Place St John's Wood Road Baptist Church St Patrick's, Soho St Sophia's Cathedral, Bayswater Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family in Exile, Mayfair Ulrika Eleonora West London Methodist Mission West Street Chapel, Westminster Westminster Cathedral Methodist Central Hall Westminster Chapel, Victoria

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