St Matthew

C15 chancel, N arcade and W tower.

Clerestory, late C15 or early C16, of two light openings in square heads.

The C19 S aisle has tall C15-style windows and a fine, embattled parapet with flint flushwork decoration.

The S chapel has C16-style windows with four-centred heads.

Part of the medieval N chapel, with some brick repairs, is visible externally behind the C19 N chapel and vestry complex.

The late C15 W tower is unbuttressed and has three stages.

Four bay Perpendicular N and S arcades, the S arcade late C14 with paterae on the capitals, the N arcade C15.

A fine, medieval arch-braced hammerbeam roof in the chancel with carved and gilded angels below the principals.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES An outstanding and well preserved C15 font carved with Marian scenes and the Baptism of Christ.

Six panels from the early C16 former rood screen reused in the N aisle

these have figures of episcopal saints and lay donors.

C19 pulpit carved by Groom, and the high altar and reredos also designed by Corder.

Some good C19 glass, including chancel E window 1894 by Ward and Hughes, with other Ward and Hughes windows in the N aisle and S chapel.

Monuments include two C17 wall tablets with kneeling figures, one for Anthony Penning, d. 1630 with reclining putti on the top.

The other, for Richard Cock, d. 1629, has garlands and fruit swags.

HISTORY The church is first recorded in the C12, and by the late middle ages it had N and S aisles, a W tower and a S porch.

Much of the work was done in the late C14

The lay donor figures on the fragments of the early C16 rood screen probably represent members of the Guild of St Erasmus known to have existed in the church at that time.

Located outside the medieval city walls, the church became the garrison church for Ipswich Barracks and was greatly enlarged in phases in the C19.

The medieval S porch was demolished when the S aisle was widened in 1845.

SOURCES Lambeth Palace Library, Incorporated Church Building Society, files 01757 and 08024 Mortlock, D P., The Guide to Suffolk Churches , 276-7 Pevsner, N. and Radcliffe, E., Buildings of England: Suffolk , 294 REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The Church of St Matthew, Ipswich, is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * For its overall architectural interest, and extensive late medieval fabric. * For the quality of its fittings, in particular the font, chancel roof and monuments. * For the successive phases (including the involvement of Sir George Gilbert Scott), showing the church's development over time.