| Country: | England |
| Official Name: | Matfen |
| Coordinates: | 55.041°N -1.954°W |
| Static Image Name: | Matfen village green (geograph 2374157).jpg |
| Static Image Caption: | Matfen |
| Population: | 495 |
| Population Ref: | (2001 census)[1] |
| Civil Parish: | Matfen |
| Unitary England: | Northumberland |
| Lieutenancy England: | Northumberland |
| Region: | North East England |
| Constituency Westminster: | Hexham |
| Post Town: | NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE |
| Postcode District: | NE20 |
| Postcode Area: | NE |
| Dial Code: | 01661 |
| Os Grid Reference: | NZ029719 |
Matfen is a village and a civil parish in Northumberland, England, near the town of Hexham and the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is an example of a 19th-century planned estate village. It was the birthplace of the 7th Premier of British Columbia, William Smithe. In 2001 it had a population of 495.
Matfen is a few miles north of Hadrian's Wall. About halfway between the two there is a prehistoric standing stone called Stob Stone, adjacent to Standing Stone Farmhouse. The stone is about seven feet high and decorated with cup marks.[2]
The place-name Matfen is first attested in the Pipe Rolls for 1159, where it appears as Matefen. The name means Matta's fen.[3] The civil parish was formed in 1955 from East Matfen, Fenwick, Ingoe, Kearsley, Ryal and West Matfen.[4]
Matfen Hall now houses a hotel and country club. The Grade II* listed building was built about 1828 by Sir Edward Blackett to replace an earlier, 17th-century house.
The Devil's Causeway passes the village less than 2miles to the west. The causeway is a Roman road, which starts at Port Gate on Hadrian's Wall, north of Corbridge, and extends 55miles northwards across Northumberland to the mouth of the Tweed at Berwick-upon-Tweed.[5]