St Mary and All Saints 8: 10-3-23 in F
Grid Reference | 140/281872 | |
Postcode | CV7 8EY | |
Affiliation | Coventry DG | |
Peals | Felstead Database | |
Sunday | None | |
Practice | None |
History
A nice church on the B4098 road from Coventry, via Kingsbury towards, Tamworth. Being next to the main road it cannot be missed.
The oldest surviving part of the fabric is the lower part of the chancel, which retains some 12th-century masonry and vestiges of a triplet of east windows. The chancel was largely rebuilt on the old foundations and lower masonry, c. 1340. The south wall appears to have been again rebuilt in the 15th century. The lower part of the west tower dates from the 13th century.
The nave is unusually wide (31 ft.) for a church of this size and, except for the 13th-century south doorway, the walls and details are of the same date as the remodelling of the chancel (c. 1340). But there are indications by vertical straight joints and seams in the west wall that it was originally narrower—15 to 16 ft. —and it is probable that it had arcades and that the 14th-century side walls were originally the outer walls of narrow aisles, some 5 or 6 ft. in width. The broadening of the main body, whether by the removal of arcades or by moving out the side walls, is certainly not consistent with 14th-century practice, but it was obviously done before or at the time the clearstory was added. This is of the style normally not later than c. 1500. But an inscription on the west wall, ‘EXTRVCTVM F[V]IT 1594’, may possibly refer to the alterations, if the clearstory was built at that time in the style of a century earlier. More probably the date is in connexion with the final removal of responds or stumps of walling in a ‘tidying up’ of the masonry. So far as is known no reused or loose fragments of the arcades have been discovered. The north chapel was built probably as an entirely new addition late in the 15th century, and the upper part of the tower is of about the same period.
It is slightly unusual to find that one of the bells was cast during the Commonwealth. A John Martin bell of 1654, cast at Coleshill and also in the time of the Commonwealth, was recast in 1896 at which time the bells were rehung and augmented to six. The cost of the rehanging and augmentation was borne by Mrs Frances Hollick, who gave the new treble in memory of her husband. A metal “H Frame” was installed, in a manner that allowed for easy augmentation to 8 at a later date. The amount involved was £182 8s 2d.
The restoration of the bells was reported in the short lived “Campanology” magazine in their edition of December 16th 1896:
The first peal on the bells was some time after this, in 1914:
The bells were not rung, with a very few exceptions, for some decades, up to the mid-1970s. By this time, the tower had been repaired and it was safe to ring the bells again. This is reported in The Ringing World of December 24th/31st 1976:
There was a request an estimate for putting the bells on roller bearing and some minor work to the installation in 1976, see below, but it was not until 1992 that local enthusiasm resulted in the original six being rehung on roller bearings.
This was reported in The Ringing World of March 5th 1993:
Two trebles were added to complete the octave in time for the Millennium. At this time the existing trebles were moved into new framework added alongside the existing frame, using traditional stays and sliders and the new trebles put into the old treble pits which were converted to stays and sliders. The back four bells remain with hastings stays. The Taylor bells were cast without canons and those on the older bells have been removed. The four old bells have been quarter turned. The augmentation was reported in The Ringing World of June 4th 1999:
The first peal was rung on Easter Monday that year:
The tenor nominal is 716Hz, midway between F natural and F# – very slightly closer to F than F#
These fine bells were regarded as unringable from 1935 to 1975 owing to concern about the tower. A chiming apparatus, no longer in existance, was installed at this time. The tower was “fixed” some time ago and the whole tower was repointed in 2006-7.
The entrance is on the north side of the tower. Parking can be a little difficult – there is a small car park uphill on the main road. Otherwise, park against the church wall in Church Lane, to the south (downhill) of the church.
Details of the Bells
1 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1998 4-2-02 26.625″ 1431.0Hz (F+42c)
2 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1998 4-3-02 27.50″ 1352.0Hz (E+43c)
3 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1896 6-0-01 30.00″ 1197.0Hz (D+33c)
4 Bryan Eldridge II, Coventry 1658 6-0-03 31.50″ 1075.0Hz (C+47c)
5 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1896 6-3-15 33.50″ 955.0Hz (Bb+42c)
6 Edward Arnold, Leicester 1795 7-0-27 35.00″ 899.0Hz (A+37c)
7 Hugh Watts II, Leicester 1628 9-1-14 38.00″ 805.0Hz (G+46c)
8 Edward Arnold, Leicester 1791 10-3-23 42.00″ 716.0Hz (F+43c)
Inscriptions
Treble | (Millenuim Shield) DEO GRATIAS DR R & MRS S SWALLOW (Taylor’s Mark) 1998 |
2 | (Millenium Shield) JUBILATE CHRISTI FILLONGLEY RINGERS AND VILLAGERS (Taylor’s Mark) 1998 |
3 | 171 + TO THE GLORY OF GOD (BORDER) (TAYLORS MARK) GIVEN BY FRANCES HOLLICK IN MEMORY OF HER HUSBAND RICHARD HOLLICK 1896 |
4 | BRYANVS ELDRIDGE ME FECIT 1658 |
5 | SOLI ^ DEO ^ GLORIA ^ PAX ^ HOMINIBUS ^ EDWARD ^ ^ HOLBACH ^ THOMAS ^ BREARLE ^^ 1654 ^^ (TAYLORS MARK) RECAST 1896 |
6 | I. LOVETT AND J. WHITE CHURCHWARDENS EDWD ARNOLD LEICESTER FECIT 1795 |
7 | (Brasyer shield) IHS : NAZARENVS (Acorn border) REX-IVDEORVM (border) FILI : DEI (border) MISERERE:MEI (border) 1628 (border) |
Tenor | JOHN FLETCHER VICAR. THOMAS LOVETT AND WILLIAM LAKIN CHURCH WARDENS (bell) EDWD ARNOLD LEICESTER FECIT (coin) 1795 (coin) |
^ = Fleur de lys) |