Grid Reference:-
139/082899
Postcode
B6 6QA
Bell Audio:-
None Available
Guild Affiliation:-
St Martin's Guild
Peals Rung Here:-
Felstead Database
Sunday Ringing:-
1015 - 1045
Practice Night:-
Thursday
1945 - 2100
History Of The Bells
This church is historically in Warwickshire, but was finally "absorbed" into Birmingham in 1911. It became part of the West Midlands in 1974, as did many other towers in Warwickshire.
First mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086 as "Estone" this area has ancient roots. There would have been a church at this time, but the building which we see today is much different. The body of the church was rebuilt by J. A. Chatwin during the period 1879 to 1890; the fifteenth century tower and spire, which was partly rebuilt in 1776/7, is the only surving part of the medieval building.
The current bells are also much different to what was there before. They are a good ring, hung in the typical fashion of the foundry's work at this time. Previously, there were 5 bells in 1552, with a tenor of perhaps 18cwt. These were recast in 1776 by Pack & Chapman and augmented to an octave, tenor 20-3-3. These bells were well used, many noteable performances being rung on them, including a peal of 15360 of Plain Bob Major in 9 hours and 29 minutes on 1st October 1793. According to The Leicester and Nottingham Journal writing at the time, "This is considered to be the greatest performance that ever was done by one set of men".
By 1814 two bells were cracked. Two bells trebles were added by Thomas Mears and the old fourth and tenor recast, it weighing 22-0-18. Rehanging work was further carried out in 1868-9 by E Cressor. During the restoration of the tower, mentioned earlier, the ringing room was raised by some 20 feet and in 1886 the bells were rehung by Barwells. Estimates for work on the bells were obtained in the 1920s, but nothing was actually done until the complete replacement of the ring in 1935.
(Most of the above information is quoted directly (with permission) from the research notes of Chris Pickford)
Details Of The Bells
1 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1935 5-0-02 26.00" 1746.0Hz 2 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1935 4-3-20 26.50" 1552.0Hz 3 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1935 5-1-11 27.625 1468.0Hz 4 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1935 5-1-19 28.50" 1305.5Hz 5 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1935 5-3-10 30.00" 1164.0Hz 6 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1935 6-2-04 31.25" 1096.0Hz 7 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1935 7-0-25 33.125" 978.0Hz 8 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1935 8-1-11 35.50" 871.0Hz 9 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1935 10-1-14 38.50" 776.0Hz 10 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1935 12-2-21 41.00" 732.0Hz 11 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1935 17-1-22 46.00" 653.0Hz 12 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1935 24-2-18 51.50" 581.0Hz
Details Of The Bells in 1935
1 Thomas Mears, London 1814 5-2-27 28.25" 2 Thomas Mears, London 1814 6-1-05 30.00" 3 Pack & Chapman, London 1775 5-2-16 30.00" 4 Pack & Chapman, London 1776 6-1-27 31.25" 5 Pack & Chapman, London 1776 7-2-07 33.50" 6 Thomas Mears, London 1814 8-1-08 36.00" 7 Pack & Chapman, London 1776 10-0-20 39.50" 8 Pack & Chapman, London 1776 11-0-00 41.25" 9 Pack & Chapman, London 1776 14-2-20 44.50" 10 Thomas Mears, London 1814 22-0-18 50.50" 591Hz (in D)
Photo Gallery
None Available