It is now believed the church was one of at least three in the county targeted by arsonists during the Easter period.

Fire ripped through St Nicholas' in the early hours of March 16 leaving nothing behind but a blackened shell.

Residents and members of the congregation were "devastated" by the destruction, which forensic experts and the fire brigade thought had been caused by an electrical fault.

But as the fallen debris of charred roof timbers inside the church have been cleared away, the true cause of the fire has been unearthed.

A cremation plot stone, which vicar the Rev Martin Green discovered was missing the day after the fire, has been found under one of main windows inside the Grade II listed Norman building.

Mr Green said: "This, sadly, means that it went through the window before the fire started and certainly on the night of the fire as people were in church the afternoon before.

"The police are still investigating, but I am afraid that it is now fairly likely that the fire will have been started deliberately.

"It has been quite shocking for people, having got used to the fact the church wasn't there, but then finding out it was done deliberately has been very upsetting."

Shortly after the blaze arson attempts were made on two other churches in the area. St Ediths in Monks Kirby was targeted between March 24 and April 15 and St John the Baptists in Brinklow had a near escape on March 24 - Easter Monday.

In both cases candles were used but damage was minor.

Mr Green believes the attack on his church was linked to these.

He said: "Just after the fire, there were attempts on other churches.
"If it had just been St Nicholas' you could think somebody had a particular issue with the church.

"But because there have been others on churches along the Fosse Way towards Rugby, it looks as though it is someone with a particular problem with churches or somebody that just enjoys the thrill of setting fire to large buildings and churches are an easy target because they are often empty."

Despite the bad news Mr Green is confident the church will 'rise from the ashes' and £10,000 has already been raised for the church's restoration project.

He said: "This news will probably make people even more determined to win the day and see it restored and used again."

* A pastoral prayer team has been set up for people to contact to "help with the anger and sadness that we will be feeling at this time".

They will be at the Radford Rendezvous coffee mornings and from June 5 a prayer meeting will take place at the village baptist church on the first Thursday of every month from 7.30pm to 8.30pm.