On the 10th December 1901, Borstal became a parish in its own right and a in 1904 a faculty of £1,285 was obtained to extend the floor plan to include choir stalls, Sanctuary and choir and clergy vestries.

The foundation stone for this extension was laid by the Countess of Darnley in 1905.

St. Matthew’s is not a church of great Gothic architecture, nor does it boast centuries of history or is it included in all the best guide-books. Rather it is a simple and homely building of Kentish rag-stone of a design very common in the late Victorian period.

St. Matthew’s doesn’t have a distinguished belfry but a small tower containing a single bell. The present chancel and vestries were added some twenty years after the original building was opened.

Inside the design is simple – entry is gained through the “West Porch” to a nave boasting only a central aisle, with colour washed walls below a solidly constructed timber roof of the “upturned boat” variety.

The brass lectern is known as the Children’s Lectern. An extract from the Parish Magazine explains that “it is proposed that when the Church has been extended, it would be nice to have a handsome brass Eagle Lectern (from which the lessons are read) as the gift of the children. It will probably cost at least £20, so that time will be required to raise the money. A start will be made at the Children’s Service at the Harvest Festival and commencing the following Sunday. Children are asked to bring what they or their parents can afford to afternoon school each week. The teachers will enter names and amounts in a book and an account of the fund will be given from time to time.” Over the course of about a year the fund grew and in December 1905 the sum of £23/5s/6d (23 pounds, 5 shillings and sixpence) had been collected. The lectern was dedicated at the Consecration of the Chancel and inscribed at its base with the words “The gift of the children of the Parish Church, November 11th 1905”

St. Matthew’s Church is known throughout the English speaking world for its Sanctuary Lamps.

The hand-working on each of the seven lamps is different and are perhaps unique in a Christian Church as each incorporates the Moslem Star and Crescent, surmounted by the Christian Cross. Church Warden, Donald Maxwell, a well-known writer and artist who lived in Borstal Road, brought them to St. Matthew’s.

Visiting Damascus in Syria in 1912, he came upon the workshop of an old Arab brass-worker in Straight Street. He so admired some lamps being fashioned by the old man that he ordered a set of them to take home to his own Parish Church, promising to call back for them at a later date.

The intervention of the 1914 Word War prevented his return to Damascus and the Arab was pressed into service by the conquering Turks to make munitions for them. It was not until 1920 when Maxwell was able to return to the workshop and he was amazed to find the old Arab was still there. He had made the lamps and buried them under the floor of his house during the war.

He was a Christian and, knowing of the destination of the lamps, refused to take any payment for them. They were brought home to St. Matthew’s where they were dedicated to the memory of Victor Morgan and Luke Taylor – two of Donald Maxwell’s friends who had been killed in the war.

Originally lit by gas, they were later electrified and are lit for every service. Visitors have come from as far afield as Australia and New Zealand to find them.

The chancel window was presented in 1885 by Thomas Tuff, the same resident that donated the land for the church. The window depicts the figures of St. Margaret and St. Matthew as St. Matthew’s church was still a part of the parish of St. Margaret at the time of presentation. The window includes a memorial to the Rev. W. H. Drage, a vicar of the old St. Margaret’s for 33 years who died in 1865 and to his son as well as an organist of the Church, Mr. George Murton “in remembrance of his gentility and his loving works amongst the poor”.

St. Matthew: Saint Matthew was one of the original disciples of Jesus. Before his calling he was a tax collector for the Roman’s in Judea. He travelled with Jesus and was witness to Christ’s Ascension. It is believed that after Christ’s Ascension, Matthew preached the gospel to Jews in Judea for approximately 15 years before travelling to other counties to continue this work. How Saint Matthew was martyred is not known but it is believed that he angered a local King while preaching his Mission in Ethiopia who ordered him staked or impaled into the ground with spears and then beheaded.

In the early days, singing was led by a harmonium, the first pipe organ being installed in 1883, at a total cost of £293. It was built by F.W. Browne of Deal and was highly commended by Mr. Hopkins, organist at the Cathedral, who “presided” at the organ at the Dedication Service on September 15th 1883.

The instrument served “well for a succession of organists, including the 1930’s personality Percy Whitlock, who moved on to the Bournemouth Pavilion from where his regular broadcasts brought him national fame. He was also a prolific composer dedicating one of his settings of the Communion Service to George Bell and the choir of St. Matthew’s Borstal.

In 1961 the organ was completely re-built and a separate console installed by Messrs. Browne. Under their care it has served well and was thoroughly overhauled by them in 1978. Numerous eminent organists have practiced and taken early examinations on this useful instrument.

This is the only stained glass in the nave and was the generous gift of Mr. and Mrs Grant in memory of their son Kenneth, who died on the 6th March 1954. The window was dedicated at the Mothering Sunday Service on March 11th 1956.

The subject of the window is Christ preaching to the multitude; the words inscribed on it are from Sermon on the Mount – “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see our God”.

The Whitefriars Stained Glass Studios executed the work that was designed by the artist Mr. Liddall Armitage. If you look VERY carefully and closely at the window you may be able to find the studio’s mark!

The Room with a Loo (Parish Room)

The need for a Parish room resulted in another extension to the church, completed in 2000. Popularly known as the ‘Room with a Loo’ it cost £46,000, which was raised in 15 months from fund-raising, donations and bequests.

Cleave Warne Hall (Parish Hall)

The church hall is behind the church building and was opened in April 1956 after being designed and constructed almost entirely by voluntary labour over a period of four years. It was financed by Mrs Frances “Fanny” Warne, widow of Thomas John Cleave Warne and named after her late husband

John Thomas Cleave Warne who was better known as Cleave Warne was born in 1857 in Rochester to Thomas Samuel Warne and Eliza Warne (nee Gould). He had two brothers Harry Duke Warne and Conway Gould Warne and a sister Mary Elizabeth Sarah Warne. He was educated at Rochester Cathedral School and then St Emmanuel College, Cambridge and from 1879 to 1888 he was a mathematical master at Darlington Grammar School. In 1889 he took holy orders, being ordained in March 1889 and after serving as a curate in Essex he became vicar of St Peter & St Paul at Stoke in Kent in 1893. He died in 1909 and is buried in St Peter and St Paul cemetery at Stoke.

In 1890 he married Frances “Franny” Pyner Brice (1866-1953) from Rainham and they had 2 daughters Edith Mary b. 1891 and Gladys b. 1897. After Cleave Warne’s death Franny and her daughters moved back to Rochester and finally settled in Borstal and lived in a residence opposite the bottom of Cookham Hill which they named “Stoke Cottage”. Fanny was a very active member of St. Matthew’s church and well loved in the village. She financed the parish hall although she did not see it in use as she died in 1953. Her daughter Gladys stayed in the village and lived at Stoke Cottage until her death in 1965.

Cleave Warne’s father – Thomas Samuel Warne – is buried in St Margaret’s Cemetery, Rochester.

The hall remains in very good condition and provides a very useful resource, its hire providing a helpful income. Facilities include a kitchen and a  stage with lighting. The toilets have been refurbished to provide disabled facilities. All the buildings are on one level and readily accessed by the disabled. It is used for regular society bookings, such as dog training, Mother and Baby classes and a keep fit group, Rainbow, Brownies and Guides and Alternate Shadows, a theatre group are regular hirers and of course it it used frequently for church events. It will hold 80 people seated and 120 seated and standing.