St Matthew, Northampton
St Matthew, Northampton
St Matthew’s is a Grade II* late-Victorian parish church on Kettering Road, Northampton, designed by Matthew Holding and known for twentieth-century art commissions, in the Diocese of Peterborough.
- Location
- Northampton, Northamptonshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Northamptonshire
- City / town
- Northampton
- Address
- The Drive, Northampton, Northamptonshire, NN1 4RY
- Postcode
- NN1 4RY
- Built
- 1891–94
- Consecrated
- 21 September 1893
- Architect
- Matthew Holding (Matthew Henry Holding)
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Matthew
- Diocese
- Peterborough
- Parish
- Northampton St Matthew
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- Gothic Revival (13th-century Gothic)
- Materials
- Squared rubble and ashlar, Welsh slate roof
- Grid reference
- SP 767 621
- Opening hours
- The church is open on Saturday afternoons from 12pm until 4pm from April until October. To visit outside these times please contact us.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby
Overview
Historic England dates the church to 1891–94, by Matthew Holding, in roughly thirteenth-century Gothic: a large building of squared rubble and ashlar with a Welsh slate roof, transepts, an apsed chancel, and a north-west tower with spire. The chancel is vaulted; the nave has a timber roof on stone arches. The church was the gift of the Phipps family in memory of the brewer and MP Pickering Phipps. The foundation stone was laid on St Matthew’s Day 1891; Bishop Mandell Creighton consecrated the church on 21 September 1893. Fittings including pulpit, screens and organ followed in 1895.
The listing records stained glass of about the same date as the building, Henry Moore’s Madonna and Child (1944) in the north transept, and Graham Sutherland’s Crucifixion (1946) in the south transept. These were commissioned under Walter Hussey, vicar from 1937, who also commissioned Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb and other works. The parish is Northampton St Matthew, in the Diocese of Peterborough.