Church Bells of Warwickshire

SHERBOURNE All Saints 6, 11-1-17 in F#

Grid Reference	151/262612
Postcode	CV35 8AP
Recording
Affiliation	Coventry DG
Peals	Felstead Database
Sunday	1015 (By Arrangment)
Practice	Wednesday 1930-2100

History

A wonderful, Grade II* listed, church which is signposted off the A429 just south of the A46/M40 interchange roundabout. The medieval church, consisting of a chancel with south chapel, nave, and, probably, a western tower, survived until 1747, when the nave and tower were rebuilt by Thomas Webb. The remainder, apparently of 14th-century date, was pulled down and rebuilt in 1802 by the Rev. Elias Webb and Thomas Webb Edge, joint lords of the manor. In 1864 the whole building was superseded by the present church erected by Miss Ryland at a cost of £20,000 from designs by Sir Gilbert Scott. Miss Ryland had inherited a fortune on the death her father, Samuel Ryland, who had made his money in the wire drawing industry in Boirmingham

It consists of a chancel, north and south chapels, a nave of five bays, with north and south aisles, and a north-west tower with a spire, and is lavishly adorned with carving and shafts of red and green marble. A brass of 1624 to the Rev. John Smith, with a long and curious rhymed epitaph, and a series of monuments to the Webb family (beginning with Elias Webb, d. 1728) survive from the earlier church.

Park by the churchyard lych gate and enter via the main church door on the north side - the tower door is inside the church. Pause a while to look at the two colour marble columns, the ornate font and the many lovely carvings in wood and stone of birds, flowers and faces. There is a memorial to one of the "Dambusters" on the north wall.

The present fourth bell is larger of the two bells that hung in the previous church. The smaller, weighing 4-2-19, was sold to George Mears & Co as part payment for five new bells to be added to the remaining bell. The work was commissioned by Louisa Ryland. The bells were installed in the newly completed church in 1864.

The cross sectional size of the tower is not as large as you might think it is going to be when looking at the church from outside. This means that the bells had to be hung in a two tier wooden frame, with bells 2 and 4 above, by Mears and Stainbank in 1864. This frame was strengthened, again by Mears and Stainbank, in 1897 by the insertion of iron tie bolts. The bells were rehung on ball bearings, yet again by Mears & Stainbank, in 1928 and further overhauled in 1975 by Frank White after a fall of masonry which broke the fourth's wheel. All the bells retain their canons, the fourth, maiden bell, alone has been quarter turned.  A rope guide was installed by Taylors in December 2017 to make the bells easier to handle.

This was the home tower of the late Pam Copson author of the "One Per Learner" Books.

Details of the Bells

1 George Mears & Co, London  1863   4-1-25  27.00"
2 George Mears & Co, London  1863   4-3-26  28.50"
3 George Mears & Co, London  1863   5-2-13  30.50"
4 Hugh Watts II, Leicester   1632   6½cwt   33.00"
5 George Mears & Co, London  1863   8-0-26  36.00"
6 George Mears & Co, London  1863  11-1-17  40.00"

Photo Gallery
The East End of the Church	The Fine Reredos	The Pugin Font
One of the Fine Marble Columns	The Organ	The Memorial to Sqd Ldr Henry Maudsley. He was the pilot of a Lancaster Bomber that was shot down on the way back  from the Dambusters Raid.
Treble Bell	Second Bell	Third Bell
Fourth Bell	Fifth Bell	Tenor Bell
The two trebles, viewed from the quite narrow trapdoor into the belfry. Second bell is above the treble.	Looking through the second and fourth bells up the magnificent spire	The Clock Room. Clock is in the foreground. Notice that the ropes have to be pulled away  from the walls  to give space for the ringer to stand behind the rope. This applies to all six bells. The ladder up to the bells is on the right.
The view down to the Ringing Room from the Clock Room. The ladder is pretty much vertical.