St Mary Magdalene's Church, Caldecote

St Mary Magdalene’s Church stands in the remains of Caldecote, a deserted medieval village in Hertfordshire. Built of flint and clunch with brick repairs, it is a small nave-and-chancel church without a structural division. A two-stage west tower with buttresses and 14th-century windows rises above the plain parapet. A 15th-century porch shelters a unique crocketed stoup noted by Nikolaus Pevsner. The interior holds 15th-century benches, a richly carved font, and a circular east window. The church dates mainly from the 14th and 15th centuries, though a rector is recorded from 1215. After the village was abandoned in the 15th and 16th centuries, 18th-century repairs kept the building standing. It became redundant in 1975 and passed to the Friends of Friendless Churches in 1982. A local group, Caldecote Church Friends, was formed in 2007 to help maintain the site. In 2021 the church suffered vandalism, with bleach poured on the altar and medieval windows broken. Visitors find a single open space where nave and chancel meet. The tower’s lead plaque to Katherine Morris, a female plumber of 1736, marks an unusual record. Inside, the octagonal font carries shields and foliage in Perpendicular style. A kneeling figure commemorates Rector William Makesey, who died in 1424. The east window’s tracery and the memorial to Viscount Caldecote add to the quiet atmosphere of this cared-for ruin.