Grid Reference:-
140/340850
Postcode:CV7 9AB
Bell Audio:-
Hear the bells
Guild Affiliation:-
Coventry DG
Peals Rung Here:-
Felstead Database
Sunday Ringing:-
0930 - 1000
1700 - 1730
Practice Night:-
Thursday
1930 - 2100
(except first of the month)
History Of The Bells
An old church that is visible from Junction 3 of the M6 - not that it is too easy to get to it from there!
Take the A444 towards Coventry. At the first roundabout turn right, the last exit, signposted to Prologis Park. There are traffic lights almost immediately - straight on. At the next set of lights turn right and then straight on for 500yds or so and turn right towards the church - look for the signpost to direct you!
The church is thriving and is one of the few around the area with a top class choir. It even has a deputy organist! The bells are an easy going six. The three Smith of Edgbaston bells, cast in 1706 were recast and rehung, still as a three but in a 6-bell frame, at the beginning of the 20th century by James Barwell, and dedicated by the Bishop of Coventry on 21 December 1900. The Smith inscriptions were repeated on the new bells.
On installation, these bells were intended to be the front three of a heavier ring of six (tenor c.10 cwt in G). Some 20 years later they were indeed augmented to six as a memorial to those that fell in WWI. The 1900 scheme was modified in 1920 and two trebles and a tenor were added instead of three tenors, the 1900 treble being retuned down a semitone, now weighing 4-0-14 (4-1-14 was the original weight). The treble and second hang in pits of the 1900 frame intended for much larger bells and their headstocks are very long. The tenor bell was cast without canons, and the five smallest bells have 'Doncaster heads'.
The composite frame remains that installed by Barwell 1900. The fittings are of 1900 and 1920, with ball bearings fitted when the bells were rehung, the 4th bell's headstock being replaced, by Mears & Stainbank in 1957. Other relatively minor work was completed by Taylors in the early 1990s, including the replacement of the tenor bell's headstock.
The entrance is by the main South Door. There is a church car park on the opposite side of the road.
Details Of The Bells
1 Mears & Stainbank, London 1920 3-0-25 23.50" 2 Mears & Stainbank, London 1920 3-2-23 25.25" 3 James Barwell, Birmingham 1900 4-0-14 27.00" 4 James Barwell, Birmingham 1900 4-2-20 28.50" 5 James Barwell, Birmingham 1900 5-2-14 30.50" 6 Mears & Stainbank, London 1920 6-2-06 33.00"
Inscriptions
1 M & S. LONDON (Whitechapel foundry trade mark with the initials AAH and RAH, and "AD 1570 AD 1920" around the mark)
Waist: A.D. 1920.
2 M & S. LONDON (Mark as treble)
Waist: A.D. 1920.
3 BARWELL FOUNDER BIRMINGHAM RECAST 21 DECR A.D. 1900
Waist: IOSEPH SMITH IN EDGBASTON MADE MEE 1706
Opposite: CHAS SIMMONDS M.A. VICAR / FRANCIS DUCK } / JOSEPH FLETCHER }CHURCHWARDENS
4 BARWELL FOUNDER BIRMINGHAM RECAST 21 DECR A.D. 1900
Waist: 1706 MR RICHARD SMART AND RICHARD RANDEL / CHURCHWARDENS
Opposite: (As third exactly)
5 BARWELL FOUNDER BIRMINGHAM RECAST 21 DECR A.D. 1900
Waist: 1706 I WILL SOUND AND CALL THE CONGREGATION
Opposite: (As third exactly)
6 MEARS & STAINBANK, FOUNDERS, LONDON(Trade mark as treble)
Waist: TO THE GLORY OF GOD / AND IN MEMORY OF THE MEN OF EXHALL, / WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR, 1914-1918 /
SUBSCRIBED BY PARISHIONERS AND FRIENDS. / A.D. 1920.
Most of the information on this page has been provided by Chris Pickford
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