Church of St Nicholas, Radford Semele
The Parish Church of St. Nicholas which has its origins in the Medieval period but which was largely rebuilt during the Imperial period. Several finds of Medieval date have been found in the churchyard. The church is situated 100m east of Radford Hall.
1 Chancel with N vestry, nave with N aisle and S porch, and W tower. The Medieval church was probably built early in the C12 and enlarged in the C14, when the tower was added.
2 Drawing of c1820.
4 Practically entirely rebuilt in 1889 with the exception of the tower and the nave S wall, which has a small C12 window and a C14 doorway.
6 Finds from the churchyard include glass fragments, a C12-C13 iron spur, and a C14 tile from the same mould as an example from Burton Dassett.
7 Observation of three trial holes at St Nicholas Church, Radford Semele, Warwickshire. A trial hole was excavated to the north-west of the north-west butress and two recorded graveyard soils.
8 Two medieval stone walls were recorded in the north aisle of the church, during archaeological recording during rebuilding work. This indicates that the medieval north aisle was slightly smaller than its Vicorian successor. A barrel-vaulted tomb was recorded, partly below the eastern wall of the vestry. Alterations in the south aisle were evidenced to be from 1838, rather than being part of the 1889 restorations as quoted in the listing.
- For the sources of these notes, see the
- Timetrail record
- produced by the Historic Environment Record.
Comments
In the 1870s the vicar of Radford Semele, J B Whitshurst, was very keen on fox hunting. His parish clerk was very keen on cock fighting. One of the parishioners, Henry Ball wrote,
“No wonder that people are left in the dark,
With a fox-hunting parson and a cock-fighting clerk.”
Source: “Folklore of Warwickshire” by Roy Palmer
A lot of churches had a band and choir of local parishioners. As time went on a lot of bands were replaced by finger organs. A transitional step sometimes used to be a barrel organ. In the nineteenth century St Nicholas Church in Radford had a barrel organ which could play the hundredth psalm and eleven well known hymn tunes!
Source: “Folklore of Warwickshire” by Roy Palmer
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