Allesley

ALLESLEY* All Saints 8; 12-0-0 in G#

Grid Reference:-
140/302806

Postcode:
CV5 9ES

Bell Audio:-
Hear the "old" bells

Guild Affiliation:-
Coventry DG

Peals Rung Here:-
Felstead Database

Sunday Ringing:-
0930 - 1000
1730 - 1800

Practice Night:-
Tuesday
1930 - 2100

Church Website

History Of The Bells

On the North West edge of Coventry this is a pleasant village that is just separate from the city itself. Of Norman origin, the church has been much altered, a major restoration taking place in mid-Victorian times. There is plenty of parking behind the church, up the small road, Rectory Road, opposite "The Rainbow", a pub that is the ringers' "apres ring" venue.

There are 8 bells - the 8¼cwt anticlockwise 5 being completely rehung clockwise and augmented by adding a tenor and recasting the (15th Century!) 3rd in 1901; two trebles being added to complete the octave in 1946/7, at which time the existing 6 bells were rehung on ball bearings using the original headstocks. The "new" trebles occupy the pits for the existing trebles; these being hung in two parallel "lowside" pits installed above the original frame. The bells were cast in late 1946 and hung in 1947.

During 2011 replacement bells for the tonally weak third and fourth were installed. The existing third has been sold to a bellhanger for an augmentation project and the fourth has been hung dead as a service bell in the upper level of the frame.

Entrance is by an outside door on the south side of the tower. Remember to duck if you are tall!

The frequency of the tenor has been measured and it equates to G#-47c and therefore the ring is in G# and not G as has always previously been stated.

Details Of The Bells

1    John Taylor & Co, Loughborough    1946     3-0-23   23.50"   1619.5HZ (G#-45c)
2    John Taylor & Co, Loughborough    1946     3-2-00   24.50"   1529.5Hz (Fx-44c) 
3    John Taylor & Co, Loughborough    2011     3-1-21   25.50"   1358.0Hz (E#-49c)
4    John Taylor & Co, Loughborough    2011     3-3-21   26.875"  1214.0Hz (D#-43c)
5    John Taylor & Co, Loughborough    1901     5-0-27   30.00"   1077.5Hz (C#-49c)
6    Joseph Smith, Edgbaston           1708     5-3-27   32.00"   1016.5Hz (B#-51c)
7    Newcombe, Leicester               1610     8-0-21   35.75"    906.5Hz (A#-49c)
8    John Taylor & Co, Loughborough    1901    12-0-00   40.75"    808.5Hz (G#-47c)

Service Bell - Previous 4th


4    Thomas Newcombe, Leicester        1580     3-3-08   26.50"   1202.5Hz (D#-59c)

Previous 3rd

3    Joseph Smith, Edgbaston           1708     3-0-15   25.50"   1357.0Hz (E#-50c)

Photo Gallery

The old Third & Fourth
in their rider frame

The Tenor

The Sound Control

The Nave, looking east

The Nave, looking south.

Restoration Photographs

allesley_third_closeup.jpg (69149 bytes)

Close-up of the old third.
The pattern is replicated in the new bell

allesley_third_removal.jpg (128819 bytes)

Removing the old third

Removing the third's wheel
through the spirelet.

allesley_third_removal2.jpg (100983 bytes)

Taking the third down the churchyard path.

Filling the crucible
ready to cast a new bell.

Casting one of the new bells