Church Micro 9324...Plymouth - St Matthias
The l7th century: Charles Church
Up until the mid-l7th century, Plymouth only had one church, St Andrew’s. But the town was growing, and also it seems that people were dissatisfied with what was on offer at St Andrew’s. (In the run-up to the Civil War, puritan Plymouth felt its vicar to be too royalist.) So in 1634 the mayor and others petitioned the king for permission to divide the ancient parish and build a new church. Seven years later he got round to agreeing. Perhaps out of tact, or else because of puritan scepticism about saints, the church was not dedicated to a saint but named after the king: it was called Charles Church.
The l9th century: daughter churches
As Plymouth continued to grow, so too did its churches. Charles Church “gave birth” to eight daughter churches over the years, and the first of these (in 1829) was Charles Chapel, later called St Luke's, in Tavistock Place.
Fifth was St Matthias, consecrated on 25th October 1887. St Matthias was built on land which was the garden and grounds of North Hill House, and financed by a Mrs Anne Watts, in memory of her late husband. Later, in 1912, a bowling green was taken over to build the church hall adjacent to the church site.
In 1892 St Matthias itself opened another church - the Mission Church in Amity Place, Greenbank. This was in continuous use until 1957.
The 20th century: reorganisation
On the night of 20th/2lst March 1941, Charles Church was hit in a terrible air raid, and destroyed by fire. The congregation moved to join St Matthias temporarily (as did the members of St Augustine's, Lipson Vale, for the same reason.) St Matthias itself avoided damage; it is often claimed that this was because its tower made a convenient landmark for enemy bombers.
When peace came, the question was whether to rebuild Charles Church. But Plymouth's population was no longer crowded into the centre, but scattered to new suburbs. So the ruins were allowed to remain as a “silent shrine of remembrance” to the 1200 civilians of Plymouth who lost their lives in the war. Meanwhile the parish was united with the oldest daughter, St Luke's, and styled Charles-with-St Luke
You can visit http://stmatthias.biz/ for a bit more info on the church and its goings on.
Now onto the Cache!
In order to complete this simple multi you will need to answer a few questions based on observations of the church
1. On the door, how many keyholes are there? A
2. How many door handles are there on the doors? B
3.How many hinges are there on the doors? C
4.How many steps are there from the street to the doors? Right up to the entrance. When the door is shut. D
The final co-ords are N 50 22.(B+C)D(A-1) W 004 07.(B+C)(A+D)(A+C) The cache itself is a little stroll on from the church and takes you to a nice spot.
If you would like to add to the Church Micro series yourself then please look here - http://churchmicro.co.uk/
There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page that can be found at - http://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/index.html
