St Matthew's Church in Widcombe is an Anglican church on Cambridge Place in Widcombe, the southeastern area of

Bath, Somerset Bath (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ) is a city in Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, Bristol, River A ...

, England. Built in 1846–1847 principally to designs by

Bath City Architect The prominent post of Bath City Architect was bestowed by the Corporation of Bath, England, on an architect who would be repeatedly chosen for civic projects. It is a form of council architect. * Thomas Warr Attwood (unofficially) 1733–1775 ...

George Phillips Manners George Phillips Manners (1789 – 28 November 1866) was a British architect, who was Bath City Architect from 1823 to 1862. In his early career, he worked with Charles Harcourt Masters, and after about 1845 was in partnership with J. E. Gill. ...

, the church stands above the Widcombe Locks of the

Kennet and Avon Canal The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of Navigability, navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than sol ...

and opposite the Church Room Institute on Cambridge Place. It is one of two churches in the parish of Widcombe, the other being the much older St Thomas à Becket. The church is dismissively described by

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

in his ''Buildings of England'' guides as "St. Matthew, Cambridge Place, Widcombe. 1846–7 by Manners & Gill. Dull, in the Dec rativestyle, with a outhtower carrying a broach spire." The tall spire has six bells, four of them predating the church; the oldest was made at Bristol in around 1500. Refurbishment during the 1970s adapted the church for use as a parish hall and provided meeting rooms and venues for various community and church events. In the summer of 2014 a newly planted congregation led by a new full-time Priest in Charge recommenced weekly worship service on Sunday evenings.

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External links

*
Photos of St. Matthew's, Widcombe
– ''Bath Daily Photo'', 28 December 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Widcombe, Saint Matthew Church of England church buildings in Bath and North East Somerset Matthew, Widcombe Churches completed in 1847 19th-century Church of England church buildings 1847 establishments in England Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Somerset