Church Of St Radegund

Church of St Radegund

Parish church in Maplebeck. Dating from the 13th to 17th centuries, with restoration in 1898 by Hodgson Fowler. Built of coursed squared rubble, dressed stone and ashlar, with a plain tile roof. The building features a partial chamfered plinth and sill band, chamfered eaves, and coped gables with kneelers and crosses. A single ashlar stack adorns the south side wall.

The church comprises a single-stage west tower, nave and north aisle under a continuous roof, a chancel, and a south porch. The tower, dating to the 14th century, is buttressed to the west with two diagonal buttresses and four setoffs. It has a chamfered top band and an octagonal broach spire with four single lucarnes and a weathercock. The west face contains a chamfered doorway with a 19th-century door, above which sits an ogee-headed single lancet, followed higher up by four cusped ogee-headed double lancets with quatrefoils.

The nave of three bays has two buttresses to the north with three setoffs plus plinth. The east end displays a 13th-century double lancet with trefoil heads, while the west features a 19th-century chamfered pointed doorway. The east wall contains an early 14th-century double lancet with cusped ogee heads and an incised lintel. The south side has a corner buttress to the west and two buttresses to the east with two setoffs plus plinths. A chamfered square-headed reveal contains a 19th-century cusped triple lancet in 14th-century style. To the west are a small chamfered rectangular light and two plain square-headed lights within a chamfered square-headed reveal.

The chancel, largely rebuilt in 1898, comprises two bays. It has a central 19th-century buttress to the north with five setoffs. The east end features a chamfered lancet with hood mould and moulded stops. The south side has a central 13th-century buttress with three setoffs, and to the west, a 19th-century double lancet in 13th-century style with chamfered reveal. A blocked pointed-headed doorway also appears on the west.

The south porch was rebuilt in 1898 using a 15th-century roof. It has a stepped plinth and a square blind recess on its east side. The south gable displays a cambered tie beam with a central mask boss.

Interior

The interior retains stone benches and a principal rafter roof with moulded cambered tie beam, tenoned purlins and collars, and notched rafters. The inner south doorway has a chamfered square-headed reveal with a 19th-century door; its inner reveal contains a stoup recess.

The nave's north arcade, early 14th-century, comprises two octagonal piers with moulded octagonal bases and differing octagonal capitals, with half-round responds bearing round bases and octagonal capitals. The arches are double chamfered and rebated. A trefoil-headed stoup of 13th-century date (restored in the 19th century) stands at the east end to the left. A restored chamfered pointed piscina is positioned on the south side to the east. The roof features moulded tie beams and principal timbers with foliate bosses and a flat panelled 18th-century ceiling.

The north aisle has a panelled 19th-century lean-to roof and includes a 14th-century altar set in the wall to the east, complete with a chamfered sill and four chamfered balusters with chamfered bases and half-octagonal capitals bearing rings.

The tower arch, early 14th-century, is double chamfered and rebated with large three-sided responds having chamfered bases and moulded capitals. The tower chamber contains a cleft timber ladder.

The chancel is furnished with a 17th-century panelled oak screen featuring turned spindles and a transom with staff moulding. Its north side includes a tomb recess with a chamfered segmental head. The east end has a 19th-century timber reredos with traceried panels. The east window contains stained glass by Kempe, dated 1898. The roof is a 19th-century panelled wagon vault.

Fittings include a 14th-century font (restored in the 19th century) with a stepped base, squat round stem, and squat octagonal bowl with restored top band. An early 17th-century panelled oak pulpit, half-octagonal in plan, displays carving and a bracketed top rail, with a square panelled oak sound board. Fifteen 17th-century oak benches are panelled with staff mouldings. There are also three 19th-century benches, two 19th-century panelled and carved oak stalls and desks, and an 18th-century communion rail (restored) with bulbous turned spindles and moulded top rail. A plain 18th-century oak parish chest, a late 17th-century table with turned legs and low stretchers, and a 19th-century brass and wrought-iron lectern with bracketed round stem and bookstand complete the furnishings. Monuments include a re-set incised cross slab and brass dated 1898, commemorating the restoration.