Saint Matthew is a church on the island of Saint Helena

Saint Helena

Saint Helena , named after St Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha...

 and is part of the Anglican Diocese of Saint Helena. It is situated in Hutt's Gate in the Longwood

Longwood, Saint Helena

Longwood is a settlement and a district of the British island of Saint Helena, where Napoleon was exiled from 1815 until his death on 5 May 1821. France owns the land around Napoleon's original grave, but the United Kingdom retains full sovereignty....

 district. The church opened in 1862. It is designated as a Grade II listed building.

The church was reportedly in a state of disrepair during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and was completely rebuilt after.

Local history

On leaving the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

, in 1676, Edmond Halley

Edmond Halley

Edmond Halley FRS was an English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist who is best known for computing the orbit of the eponymous Halley's Comet. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, following in the footsteps of John Flamsteed.-Biography and career:Halley...

 visited Saint Helena and set up an observatory with a 24 feet (7.3 m) aerial telescope

Aerial telescope

An aerial telescope is a type of very-long-focal-length refracting telescope built in the second half of the 17th century that did not use a tube. Instead, the objective was mounted on a pole, tree, tower, building or other structure on a swivel ball-joint. The observer stood on the ground and held...

 with the intention of studying star

Star

A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...

s from the Southern Hemisphere. The site of this telescope is near the church. The 680m high hill there is named for him and is called Halley's Mount.

Also nearby is Napoleon's

Napoleon I

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

 Tomb, where the former French Emperor was buried 1821-1840.

Parish

The parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 of St Matthew (one of three parishes on the island) has one daughter church, St Mark's in Longwood, and a congregation at Levelwood

Levelwood, Saint Helena

Levelwood is a district and settlement on the island of Saint Helena. In 2008 it had a population of 316, compared to a population of 376 in 1998, and is rural in nature....

 with no church.

See also

• St James' Church
  St James, Jamestown
  Saint James' Church is a church on the island of Saint Helena and is part of the Anglican Diocese of Saint Helena. It is situated in the capital Jamestown and is the oldest Anglican Church in the southern hemisphere; the present building was put up in 1774....
  
   - the oldest Anglican church south of the Equator, situated in Jamestown
• St Paul's Cathedral
  Saint Paul's Cathedral (Saint Helena)
  Saint Paul's Cathedral is a cathedral church on the island of Saint Helena and is part of the Anglican Diocese of Saint Helena. It is located approximately 2 miles south of Jamestown in the district of St Paul's....
  
   - the cathedral church of St Helena, built in 1851, which replaced another early church on the island
• St John's Church - another church built in 1862 on the island

External links

• Diocese of Saint Helena Parish of St Matthew