The Maplesteads
Great Maplestead is a village in the Braintree District. In the 1870s, the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales said that Great Maplestead ‘took its name from maple trees, which anciently flourished on or around its site, and has the repute of being a very healthy place’.
Little Maplestead is the smaller neighbouring village with a round church which was probably built around 1335 which is the latest of only 4 round churches still in use in England rendering it of great historical importance. It was built on a site given to the Order of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem known as the Knights Hospitaller. The round shape of the church is thought to celebrate the resurrection.