Wormleighton

St Peter 3: c.8cwt in A – Unringable

Grid Reference 151/448538 Wormleighton. Source: Lesley Black
Postcode CV33 9DW
Recording None Available
Affiliation Coventry DG
Peals None
Sunday None
Practice None
Other Information Unringable

History

This church is right in the corner of Warwickshire. The parish is bordered by Northamptonshire to the East and Oxfordshire to the South.  The church, built around 1850 is Grade I listed due to its significant historic interest. The Lord of the Manor is Earl Spencer, brother to the late Princess of Wales.

The church consists of a chancel, nave, north and south aisles, south porch, and west tower. There was an early-12th-century church on the site, as indicated by the surviving angles of the original nave, which has roughly the common proportion of two squares, i.e. length roughly twice the breadth, although the walls are not at right angles, both east and west ends inclining westwards from north to south. At the end of the 12th century the two narrow aisles were added with their arcades of three bays: the south doorway of this period still exists but the windows, which were probably small, were altered, chiefly in the 14th century, and the walls more or less rebuilt on the old foundations.

The west tower is also of the same period as the arcades, or slightly later, except for an alteration to the north-west buttress and possibly the north wall, which is thinner than the others, done in the 15th century. The chancel was enlarged in the early 13th century, but its side windows were replaced by others in the 14th century and the east window in the 15th century. The east and south walls were rebuilt in the 18th century, when the older windows were reset.

The clearstory was raised above the nave in the 15th century and probably a flat lead-covered roof was provided, but this was replaced by the low-pitched slate-covered roof in the 16th or 17th century. The south porch was a 14th-or early-15th-century addition. There have been several 18th and 19th century renovations and probably minor alterations to the architectural features, and the chancel-and south-aisle roofs have been renewed or replaced by relatively modern roofs. An interesting survival is the rood-screen and part of the rood-loft of the 15th century. Probably the chancel arch was widened for the screen. The carving on the screen, which is said to have come from Southam after 1660, has an early representation of of a person wearing spectacles, (see photo below).

These bells are unringable. The mediaeval bell was rehung on ball bearings by Mears and Stainbank in 1934 and the others are on fittings from 1843 rehanging by William Watson of Napton, it having the same issues as his other work at Marton. He was paid £40 for his work.

All three bells retain their canons and the two smaller bells were quarter turned in the 1934 restoration. The tenor bell had already been quarter turned and was returned to its original orientation in 1934 when Mears installed the self-aligning ball bearings.  The tenor is heavily worn.

The nominal of the treble has been considerably lowered by chip tuning, but the other two bells are “maiden”.

The wheels are almost complete, but the bearings are heavily worn. At first sight these bells appear perfectly ringable; it is only the state of the bearings and the tenor’s clapper-wear that prohibit this.

The inscriptions are found in Tilley and Walters’ book, “The Church Bells of Warwickshire”:

Wormleighton Inscriptions

Don’t be misled by the book’s claim of a possible one-ton tenor – it’s only about 8cwt!

Photo Gallery
Wormleighton East. Source: Lesley Black Wormleighton West. Source: jonrus1
The Church – Looking East The Church – Looking West
Wormleighton Glasses. Source: Keith Chambers Wormleighton Plan. Source: British History Online
The Early Carving of a Man Wearing Glasses A Plan of the Church
Wormleighton Bells Wormleighton Bells
Wormleighton Bells Wormleighton Bells
Wormleighton Bells Images of the bells.
Source: Keith Chambers
Layout 3.1
The Frame Layout

Details of the Bells

1 Henry Bagley I, Chacombe     1642  5cwt  30.00″   1121.0Hz (C#+19c)
2 Robert Mellours, Nottingham  1522  6½cwt 33.25″    984.0Hz (B-7c)
3 Hugh Watts, Leicester        1617 c8cwt  35.875″   873.5Hz (A-13c)