Church Bells of Warwickshire

HAMPTON IN ARDEN* SS Mary & Bartholomew 8, 12-0-22 in G

Grid Reference	139/203808
Postcode	B92 0AT
Recording	None Available
Affiliation	St Martin's Guild
Peals	Felstead Database
Sunday	1000-1030
Practice	Monday 2000-2100

History

The church of has a chancel, nave with narrow aisles, west tower, south porch, and north vestry. The chancel is of about mid 12th-century date. It is comparatively long and narrow for the period, in a church of this size, and it has an unusual north doorway near the west end; it is possible that it represented the complete church, at least for a short time. The nave, if not coeval, was built soon afterwards and had a late-12th-century south aisle, of which the arcade remains. Possibly the nave was of the same width as the chancel, but was widened to the north about 5 ft (1.5 m). about the middle of the 13th century and a narrow north aisle and arcade added. The chancel arch was widened at the same time to the utmost limits permitted by the width of the chancel. For some reason, probably weakness, the north aisle was rebuilt late in the 14th century on the old foundations of the narrow aisle. This was followed by a similar rebuilding of the south aisle early in the 15th century, again without widening it. About the same time the west tower was begun, but carried up only a short way, the completion being delayed until late in the century. The last medieval alteration was the building of the clearstory in the 16th century in place of the old steeply pitched roof indicated by the lines on the tower. The tower bore a tall spire "till by the extraordinary violence of lightning and thunder happening on St.Andrew's Day, in the night, in the year 1643, it was cloven, and fell to the ground: at which time the whole fabrick, with the tower, were torn in divers places." The south porch and north vestry are modern, and various repairs and restorations have been executed to other parts. The chancel was rebuilt in 1879 with the old material overseen by the architect W. E. Nesfield. All the roofs are modern.

These bells were cast for St.John's, Miles Platting, Manchester, where they replaced a ring of six, tenor 11-1-10, whih supplied by Warners in 1872. This church was built at the expense of Sir Benjamin Haywood and was in Italian Romanesque style with a north west campanile. It was very "high"church. There were problems with tower oscillation. The recasting was paid for by Sir A.P. Heywood, the first President of the "Central Council" and Sir Benjamin's grandson.

This church was reported in 1967 to be suffering from settlement and its demolition authorised in 1971; the last service being on Easter Sunday 1973. It was replaced by a modern church without a tower. The bells became available for transfer after the demolition was authorised and the Miles Platting bells were last rung in 1973, when a peal after the final service failed. They were acquired for Hampton in 1975-6. They are hung in a cast iron frame incorporating H castings from the Miles Platting frame, with new steelwork. The fittings are also mainly from Miles Platting, but Taylors replaced the former (steel) headstocks of the two trebles and rehung the whole ring on ball bearings when they were transferred here in 1975-6.

There were 3 bells here by 1552, but when Henry Oldfield recast the two tenor bells at Walsall in 1629 there were now four, 13-1-3. The treble was recast by Hugh Watts of Leicester in 1634. The bells were destroyed when the spire was hit by lightening. The spire was never rebuilt, but some work was done to the bells by 1654, possibly by John Martin of Worcester. The bells were recast into ring of six by Joseph Smith of Edgbaston, 1725, being rehung in a composite frame by Barwell of Birmingham in 1907 and later rehung on ball bearings by Taylors. These bells were transferred in 1976-7, to Nether Whitacre (q.v.).

The first peal on the ring of 6 was rung in 1908:

Details of the Bells

1 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough  1912   3-0-12 23.625"  1546.0Hz (G-24c)
2 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough  1912   3-1-01 24.375"  1449.0Hz (F#-37c)
3 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough  1912   3-2-25 26.00"   1290.0Hz (E-38c)
4 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough  1912   4-1-06 28.00"   1159.0Hz (D-23c)
5 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough  1912   5-0-21 30.50"   1030.0Hz (C-28c)
6 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough  1912   6-2-01 32.50"    967.0Hz (B-37c)
7 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough  1912   8-0-25 36.125"   869.0Hz (A-22c)
8 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough  1912  12-0-22 40.375"   771.5Hz (G-28c)

Photo Gallery
The Church - Looking East	A Plan of the Church