St Matthew's Church, Silverhill

As early as 928, when it was first described in writing, Hastings was an important town. Its position on the English Channel coast at the bottom of a narrow valley gave it strategic advantages, and it was a successful fishing port and the chief Cinque Port. The seven medieval churches it supported by the late 13th century had declined to two—All Saints and St Clement's—by 1801, but by then the town was about to enter its most rapid period of growth, which saw it expand well beyond the confines of the Bourne valley. Daytrippers, holidaymakers and permanent residents were attracted by better transport links (especially from London) and the prestige of royal patronage (conferred by visits by…

with lancet windows separated by stone shafts. The south transept has paired lancets and a sexfoil window.]] St Matthew's Church is a large Early English Gothic revival building with elements of the later Decorated Gothic style. John Loughborough Pearson regarded it as one of his cheaper churches in terms of its design: he reused structural and decorative elements from earlier commissions (in particular St Barnabas Church in Hove, completed in 1883), and restricted himself to using red brick and small quantities of stone. and "outstanding ... imposing ... [and] architecturally inventive". The church has a nave with aisles on both sides, a chancel with a polygonal apse at the east end,…

St Matthew's Church was listed at Grade B by English Heritage on 14 September 1976, and was later regraded at the equivalent Grade II*. As a Grade II*-listed building, it is considered "particularly important ... [and] of more than special interest". In February 2001, it was one of 13 Grade II* listed buildings, and 535 listed buildings of all grades, in the borough of Hastings. The parish covers the same territory as it did when it was created in 1870: the boundaries are St Helen's Road (the A2101) in the east; Briers Road, Perth Road and Stonehouse Drive to the north; the postwar Ponswood industrial estate to the west; and the Bohemia suburb to the south (beyond Springfield Road, Tower…