Grid Reference:-
150/083605
Postcode:
B49 5JA
Bell Audio:-
None Available
Guild Affiliation:-
Coventry DG
Peals Rung Here:-
Felstead Database
Sunday Ringing:-
Not known
Practice Night:-
Wedesday
1945 - 2100 (Check)
History Of The Bells
The church is situated next to Coughton Court, the home of the Throckmorton family of Gunpowder Plot fame. The house is now in the care of the National Trust - look for the signs for public entrance.
Until recently the bells were a very difficult ground floor ring in a wooden frame with very large wheels making the bells turn slowly. Great local efforts raised the necessary money and in 1991 they were rehung lower in the tower, in a metal frame, (one above five, the treble partly inside the space occupied by the old frame) and moved to an upstairs ringing room.
The old frame dates from 1686, when the 6 bells were cast, and it has been retained in the tower, along with the Carr fittings. This frame had the fourth bell raised above the others. Before that date there were only three bells, the tenor weighing around 18 cwt. These bells were deliberately broken and disabled by Sir Robert Throckmoreton and "a crew of evell popishly affected persons".
Before the restoration of 1991 the bells had previously been refitted by Charles Carr of Smethwick in 1893. It is presumably at this earlier point that the canons were knocked off the tenor. The front 5 are hung on canon-retaining headstocks. The second shows signs of chip-tuning, but none of the others do. The cast iron frame is by Taylors, with H sections below for the back 5 and a lowside frame for the treble on top. Space restrictions mean that the treble has to protrude through into the existing timber frame. The bells were not tuned at the restoration.
The tenor frequency equates to F#+14c and is therefore not in the key of F as has been up to now reported in Dove hardcopy editions
Details Of The Bells
1 Henry & Matthew Bagley, Chacombe 1686 4-3-25 28.75" 1270.0Hz (D#+35c) 2 Henry & Matthew Bagley, Chacombe 1686 5-2-13 30.00" 1157.0Hz (C#+74c) 3 Henry & Matthew Bagley, Chacombe 1686 6-1-00 32.25" 1034.0Hz (B#-21c) 4 Henry & Matthew Bagley, Chacombe 1686 7-2-04 33.625" 943.0Hz (A#+20c) 5 Henry & Matthew Bagley, Chacombe 1686 8-3-00 36.75" 847.0Hz (G#+34c) 6 Henry & Matthew Bagley, Chacombe 1686 11-2-20 42.00" 746.0Hz (F#+14c)
Photo Gallery
None Available