Oak Figure at Radcliffe-on-Trent
St Mary's, Radcliffe-on-Trent
This building dates from 1858. The oak figure was in the earlier church on the site
By Edna Welthorpe
In his Notes about Notts (T Forman & Sons, 1874) Page 79, Cornelius Brown writes
"There formerly existed in the church of St.Mary at Radcliffe-on-Trent an oak figure which was placed over the tomb of Stephen de Radclive, who (judging from the fact that he was buried in the wall) was the founder or re-founder of the church.
"Thoroton (1) thus alludes to this sepulchral monument, ‘one of the Stephens, as the tradition is, gave the pasture to the town; he lies in the S. wall of the church, under his image cut in oak under an arch’.
"This is now a thing of the past. It is said to have been destroyed by the loyal inhabitants, who dressed it to represent Bonaparte and burnt it on the news of one of the Peninsular victories.
"Local tradition also asserts that it ‘was permitted by the churchwardens to be carried away by the roughs of the village, and consumed in the street on the 5th November about seventy years ago” [ie around 1800]".