St John the Baptist 3: 6-1-8 in B – Anticlockwise
Grid Reference | 139/927204 | |
Postcode | B46 1GA | |
Affiliation | St Martin’s Guild | |
Peals | None | |
Sunday | None | |
Practice | None | |
Other Information | Anticlockwise |
History
The church seems to have existed by 1252, when it was a dependent chapelry of Coleshill Parish Church, and was granted to the Benedictine Markyate Priory. The south wall of the nave and possibly the north wall date from this era. Two windows in the north wall are early 14th century in style. The nave was extended 9 feet (2.7 m) westwards in the 15th century for the addition of a bell-cot. The south porch is another addition that seems to date from the 15th century. In 1876-77 the chancel was rebuilt and the north-west tower was added.
The bells were transferred and the old frame and fittings reused when the new tower was built. The bells are hung anticlockwise and are housed in a wooden frame, possibly from 1793. This date is is carved into the frame alongside the initials “T P”. This shows that the frame pre-dates the current tower. There are three parallel pits, with the tenor in the middle
The fittings were supplied in 1907 by James Barwell of Birmingham, at a cost of £33/2/6. They also added angle plates and tie rods to the frame. The bells all retain their canons. The two tenors have been quarter turned, the treble not having been turned. These bells are perfectly ringable.
The catalogue of bells cast at the Gloucester foundry published in 1804 lists three bells cast for Lea Marston. This may be inaccurate, as the Loughborough foundry records show that the old tenor, which they recast in 1855, bore the inscription “GOD SAVE THE CHVRCH 1629”. It weighed 5-2-7. The same firm recast the treble in 1873, it having been cracked for some time.
There looks to be room for 2 bells swinging at 90 degrees to the existing 3. The current bells, however, would need some time on the tuning machine in order to bring them into a diatonic scale – listen and find out how much!
The tuning figures, supplied by Bill Hibbert are very roughly as follows:
Hum Prime Tierce Nominal
Treble : 322 589 746 1254
Second: 293 571 664 1059
Tenor : 270 464 589 985
Therefore, the three nominals are D#+ 13c, C + 21, B – 5. The spacing of the bells from treble to second to tenor is roughly 3 semitones and 1 semitone. This is not a combination that occurs in a major diatonic scale. The middle bell is a semitone flat of where it “should” be.
The inscriptions are given in Tilley and Walters’ book, “The Church Bells of Warwickshire”:
Details of the Bells
1 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1873 5-1-13 29.50″ 1254.0Hz (D#+12c)
2 John Rudhall, Gloucester 1791 5½ cwt 30.25″ 1059.0Hz (C+21c)
3 John Taylor & Son, Loughborough 1855 6-1-08 32.50″ 985.0Hz (B-5c)
Photo Gallery |
|
The Treble | The Second |
The Tenor | The frame layout |