Cheltenham, St Matthew: Anglican Parish

Registers 1859-[2000]; registers of services 1859-1975; incumbents' papers 1879-1992; churchwardens' accounts 1879-1956; churchwardens' papers c.1876-1996; church council minutes 1883-1884; appeal fund committee minutes, accounts and correspondence 1971-1974; Anglican/Methodist Joint Council minutes 1971-1988; PCC Development Working Group papers 1984-1997

St Matthew's church is technically a chapel of ease to St Mary's, with the same incumbent and, from 1920, PCC. Hence searchers should be aware that records listed under the reference P78/1 (St Mary's parish) may also relate to St Matthew's church. Where records relate to both churches (churchwardens' accounts, PCC minutes and parish magazines for example) they have been listed under P78/1. Records relating solely to St Matthew's church are listed here as P78/9 St Matthew's church was built to cope with the expansion of the town's population in the 19th century. The architect was Ewan Christian, the foundation stone was laid in 1877 and the new church was consecrated on 17 April 1879. This new permanent church was built on a piece of land adjacent to the so-called 'temporary church', which was removed to a new site on the Bayshill estate while St Matthew's was built. The temporary church, made of corrugated iron, had been erected in November 1859 when St Mary's was closed for urgent repairs, and its licence was renewed when the parish church re-opened in March 1861 to compensate for the lack of additional accommodation in the latter Between the years 1971-1989 St Matthew's church was shared with the Methodists, but the sharing arrangement broke down irretrievably in 1989 [see P78/9 IN 4/2 and SP 2/1] Many of the papers listed in P78/9 CW 3 and SP relate to the re-ordering of St Matthew's church. The rear of the church was re-ordered in 1971-1972, to form a large meeting room with smaller rooms in the south aisle. A kitchen, new vestry and toilets were also added. In 1986, a feasibility study was commissioned to examine the options for developing the buildings of the parish. This resulted in a major re-ordering of St Matthew's church which took place over the next decade with several revisions and changes of plan

<p>[For a more detailed account of the history of St Matthew's and the temporary church, see 'Cheltenham's Chapels and Churches AD 773-1883' by Steven Blake (GRO reference PA78/50); see P78/1 CW 3/24 for papers relating to the re-ordering of St Matthew's]</p>

Deposited by Rector and PCC

Diocese of Gloucester; chapelry annexed to Cheltenham, St Mary