Church Bells of Warwickshire

OFFCHURCH St Gregory 6, 13-3-26 in E

Grid Reference	151/258657
Postcode	CV33 9AS
Recording
Affiliation	Coventry DG
Peals	Felstead Database
Sunday	Not Known
Practice	Wednesday 1930-2100

History

This small, but very nice, church contains a good ring of six that was augmented and rehung from an awkward ring of 4 in 1992, (The Dedication Service was on 21 Nov 1992). The church  stands on the crest of the hill above the village. It consists of chancel with north vestry, nave with south porch, and west tower, and is built of the local red sandstone. The nave dates from the early part of the 12th century; owing to the failure of the foundations the chancel arch, of which the piers are badly out of the perpendicular, collapsed and had to be reconstructed, apparently in the 14th century, with the addition of buttresses on the south and, probably, north. The chancel seems to have been partly rebuilt at the same time and perhaps lengthened, and a south porch erected. In the 15th century the tower was erected. Late in the 16th century the roof of the nave was reconstructed at a lower pitch, and it may have been at this time that the clumsy and very massive buttress on the north side, overlapping the north door, was built.  In the 18th century, square-headed two-light windows were cut in the side walls of the nave, immediately under the eaves, probably to light galleries. In 1866 the chancel was almost entirely rebuilt, in the course of which operation there were found in the wall parts of a stone coffin (now outside the north wall of the nave) and the heads of two small round-headed windows, which were set in the north and south walls when rebuilt. A combined vestry and organ-chamber was built on the north of the chancel in 1898.

The four bells hung in a massive oak bell frame that was installed in the 18th century, with the traditional four pattern around a central "well hole". The bells were rehung with new fittings in a strengthened frame by Webb & Bennett of Kidlington in 1910, Mears & Stainbank further strengthened the frame in 1939, installing tie rods and angle places. The old seventeenth century frame was supposed to be re-erected at "The Bury", but Chris Pickford does not know if this was done.  

The inscriptions of the then ring of four are given in Tilley and Walters' book, "The Church Bells of Warwickshire:

After much work and fundrasing, the existing bells were hung in a new metal frame by Taylors in 1992, at which time two trebles were added.  The report of the work appeared in The Ringing World of June 4th 1993:

From this we can see that both new trebles are inscribed:

The first peal on the bells was rung in 1993:

Park near to the church and enter through the south door to an inside entrance at the base of the tower to the ringing gallery.

Details of the Bells

1 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough   1992   5-2-02  29.625"  1137.0Hz (C#+44c)
2 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough   1992   6-0-26  31.625"  1008.0Hz (B+35c)
3 Robert Hendley, Gloucester      c1500   6-2-11  33.875"   899.0Hz (A+37c)
4 Newcombe, Leicester              1605   9-0-14  37.00"    850.0Hz (G#+40c)
5 Robert Hendley, Gloucester      c1500  12-1-12  40.125"   757.0Hz (F#+39c)
6 Matthew Bagley I, Chacombe       1681  13-3-26  43.875"   673.5Hz (E+37c)

Photo Gallery
The Church - Looking East	The Church - Looking West
The Ringing Chamber	The modern window that casts a blue light inside the church.	The Old Clappers
Plan of the Church