St Nicholas 6: 14½cwt in F (GF)
Grid Reference | 151/516675 | |
Postcode | CV23 8BY | |
Affiliation | Coventry DG | |
Peals | Felstead Database | |
Sunday | Not Known | |
Practice | Not Known |
History
This is the last tower in the Diocese before Northamptonshire brings in the Peterborough Diocese. Set in a pleasant rural setting the bells do take a little bit of ringing, but are perfectly ringable.
The Grade II* listed church is situated to the west of the Daventry-Coventry road in a small churchyard on the western outskirts of the village. It consists of a chancel, nave, north and south aisles, tower, north and south porches, and was built at the beginning of the 16th century, the tower being the last part to be completed. The tower and porches are built of ashlar, the rest of the church of sandstone rubble with worked dressings. The chancel was almost entirely rebuilt in brick in the early 19th Century, including the angle buttresses, rendered over with cement and lined out with joints to imitate ashlar.
Originally a complete Smith ring of six, cast out of the four bells then in the tower. The tenor was recast at Whitechapel in 1781 and is one of the few bells cast at the time when William Chapman was the sole head of the business. The second, third and fourth bells are much better sounding than the treble and fifth, even though all are untuned. The current frame was installed in 1820 by a Mr. Ward at a cost of over £100. It was strengthened in 1926 when the bells were rehung by Mears & Stainbank, probably reusing the old headstocks.
The bells now have elm headstocks, plate gudgeons, self-aligning ball bearings and traditional wheels stay and sliders.
The work was reported in The Ringing World of January 28th 1927:
All the bells retain their canons, have been quarter turned and the Smith bells are “listed”.
The inscriptions are given in Tilley and Walters’ book, “The Church Bells of Warwickshire”:
The first peal on the bells was rung in 1928.As said earlier, the church is not in Northamptonshire, but the next door parish is! It was, however, for many years attached to the Daventry Branch of the Peterborough DG, despite being in the Coventry Diocese.
Some relatively minor work to items such as clappers, pullies and flapper boards was carried out by Taylors in September 2013 and this has improved the go of the bells noticeably. A new band of ringers has recently been formed and the bells are being rung again. A rope guide was installed by Taylors in November 2016 to make the bells easier to handle
Park in the road outside and enter by the north door.
Details of the Bells
1 Joseph Smith, Edgbaston 1713 5cwt 30.325″ 1179.0Hz (D+6c)
2 Joseph Smith, Edgbaston 1713 5½cwt 31.50″ 1057.0Hz (C+17c)
3 Joseph Smith, Edgbaston 1713 6½cwt 33.25″ 946.0Hz (Bb-21c)
4 Joseph Smith, Edgbaston 1713 7cwt 34.25″ 899.0Hz (A+37c)
5 Joseph Smith, Edgbaston 1713 10cwt 38.00″ 792.0Hz (G+18c)
6 William Chapman, London 1781 14½cwt 43.50″ 707.0Hz (F+21c)
Photo Gallery |
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The Church – Looking West | The Church – Looking East |