St. Matilda's was begun as an amalgam of several churches and their aspirations. To
avoid embarrassment the names, places and times of actual people and events have been removed and potentially desirable
others have been added.
St. Matilda's is quite unlike other imaginative reconstructions in
the realm of church history such as the Da Vinci project in that it relies on good scholarship and accurate commentary
in the tradition of authors such as Anthony Trollope, Susan Howatch, G.K. Chesterton and others, seeking to amuse, inform,
challenge, and edify their contemporaries.
Read on and find how we would consider a traditional Church of England
parish to fare when it works hard to be thoroughly up to date in its methods and its in contribution to a healthy and
supportive local community and the world-wide church.
The information about the Reverend Doctor Edward Baty,his work, and that of the Guild of St. Raphael is
totally accurate, as is its base in those churches and enterprises in which he has been involved, a ministry stretching
back almost half-way through the twentieth century and still alive and fruitful today. However, every possible reference to
the living has been dispensed with.
St. Matilda's is a tribute to the clergy, religious, and lay church members with whom it has been
his privilege to work throughout his life, as he approaches the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood on
22nd September 1963.
Barchester, Starbridge? Is Potherton next? Only future generations can say. However, several novels
about the area are already well in progress and nearly ready for publication
