St Matthew's, Westminster

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. 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, Walter Ernest Tower and Martin Travers. Kempe and Comper studied under Bodley; Tower was Kempe's partner and Martin Travers was the pupil of Comper. At the time it was built the area was one of the poorer districts of the borough of Westminster. The church was founded to alleviate the overcrowded St John the Evangelist…

Entering the church, via the narthex, visitors will see a stained glass window of St Michael by W. E. 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 riddel posts is, he maintained, the…