St Matthew's Church

Built in 1821–22 to a design by the architect John Oates of Halifax, the first church on the site was a chapel-of-ease within Hawarden parish. The formulation of a plan for a new church on Buckley Mountain coincided with the passing the Church Building Act 1818, which made £1,000,000 available for church construction. This fund (known as the First Parliamentary Grant) provided the Buckley project with a donation of £4,052, which made up the bulk of the funding for the new church. St Matthew's thus became the first and only church in Wales to benefit from the act. Oates' 'plain but handsome Gothic structure' was largely replaced between 1898 and 1904, but a good deal is known about its…

The church comprises a three-stage west tower, four-bay nave and choir in one with clerestory and side aisles, a polygonal chancel, south-west porch, south-east organ chamber and boiler room, and north-east vestries. The general style is Perpendicular Gothic with Arts and Crafts elements. Constructed of ashlar with a timber-framed clearstory, the building was originally roofed with green Westmorland slate, some of which has since been replaced.