St Matthew, Thorpe Hamlet, Norwich

Thorpe Hamlet sits directly across the River Wensum from Norwich city centre. Long a part of the parish of Thorpe St Andrew, its development was a result of the coming of the railways in the 19th Century, and their associated industry. A church dedicated to St Matthew was built in the 1850s just off of Riverside Road, in the Neo-Norman style favoured by architect John Brown. In the early 1960s, several of its windows were filled with a good sequence of glass by the renowned designer Lawrence Lee. However, the church was expensive to maintain and by 1980 required considerable repairs, and so it was sold and converted into office accommodation. This new church was built further up the hill, and opened in 1981.

As you might expect for a building designed for modern worship, you step into a foyer with several rooms leading off of it, including a kitchen. A small chapel, no more than an alcove really, sits beside the entrance, and in it is reset One of Lawrence Lee's windows from the old church, depicting St Matthew at his counting desk. The effect is impressive, a thoughtful reuse of the glass. Stepping through then into the body of the church you enter a wide open space full of light, including more of Lawrence Lee's glass, a two-light Annunciation. Another window depicts Christ giving a blessing, which must be more or less contemporary with Lee's glass, but it is not, I think, by him, but perhaps by the Norwich workshop of King & Son who were very busy in Norfolk churches at that time.

As well as the glass, the parish brought the Neo-Norman font from the old church, an attractive piece with an arcade of interlacing columns around the outside. I'm told that they also brought benches from the old church, but these have fortunately been dispensed with and replaced by modern chairs, enabling the space to be used for other purposes. This results in a fairly free focus on the altar and sanctuary which I assume must also have come from the old church. A rood group above the altar is very much in the style of the designer Laurence King's Faith Craft workshop. It would be interesting to know if it was made by them. Curtained off on the north side is a quiet chapel with a statue of the Blessed Virgin and Christchild and a Blessed Sacrament lamp. All in all, this is a lovely church, perfectly suited to modern liturgical uses as well as being of benefit to the local community. What's more, it is open to pilgrims and strangers every day.

Simon Knott, May 2025

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