Church Bells of Warwickshire
Lost Rings
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| ATHERSTONE ON STOUR, St Mary 3, 4-3-22 in C |
Atherstone on Stour |
Atherstone church was entirely rebuilt in 1875-6. The three bells from the enclosed wooden turret over the west end of the nave of the old church were re-hung in the south western porch tower, which carried a four sided stone spire, by Barwells at a cost of £53. The church was closed in about 1975 on account of fears for the safety of the structure. The bells were removed from the tower in June 1993, and afterwards incorporated in rings of bells in other Warwickshire churches. The treble is now the third of the ring of six at Barford, the second is the second at Radford Semele, and the tenor is the fourth at Shotteswell. Their notes are D sharp, C sharp and C natural.
1 Gloucester Foundry c1320 3-0-0 2 John of Gloucester c1350 4-0-12 3 Unknown 1627 4-3-22
| BIRMINGHAM, Bishop Latimer's Church 8, 13-3-22 in F |
Bishop Latimer's Church |
The foundation stone of this large church, inscribed “To the Glory of God and in memory of Hugh Latimer Bishop of Worcester 1535-1539, Martyr 1555” was laid on 4 April 1903, and the building was dedicated the following July. Taylors supplied one ringing bell, 6-3-23 in Db, that was intended to be the 7th of a 25cwt ring of 10. Some half a century later this became the 5th of a ring of 8 cast in 1958 from the metal of the ring at St John's Deritend (q.v.). Though six peals were rung here the architect advised that the bells were not to be rung by 1965. In 1971/2 they were transferred to Perry Bar. The church is still in use, though services are held mostly in the church hall.
(Most of the above information is quoted directly (with permission) from the research notes of Chris Pickford)
1 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1958 4-0-16 25.625" 1441.5Hz (F+54c) 2 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1958 4-0-26 26.375" 1358.0Hz (E+51c) 3 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1958 4-2-07 28.25" 1208.0Hz (D+48c) 4 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1958 5-0-03 29.625" 1071.0Hz (C+40c) 5 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1904 6-0-14 31.375" 953.0Hz (Bb+38c) 6 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1958 7-1-16 34.00" 898.5Hz (A+36c) 7 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1958 10-0-12 38.00" 799.0Hz (G+33c) 8 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1958 13-3-22 42.375" 710.0Hz (F+28c)
| BIRMINGHAM, Bishop Ryder's Church 8, 12-3-24 in F# |
Bishop Ryder's Church |
This church was built in 1837/8 in Gem Street as a memorial to the Bishop of Lichfield, who had died in 1834 and who had been supportive of the need to build a church in this area. Its parish came from that of St Martin in the Bullring. After being empty for some time the church was demolised in 1960 and part of Aston University used the site.
A single bell by William Taylor of Oxford, cast around 1838 and weighing 4-0-8 was all that was in the tower until, "The first eight ever cast in Birmingham" was installed by Blews and Son, cast in late 1868 and dedicated in 11th January 1869. The bells were rehung by Carrs as early as 1895 in the same frame, (which remained in use until the removal of the bells in 1960). The bells fell silent in 1922 and, always considered to be of poor tone; (note the frequencies), were recast by Taylors the following year. The scrapping weights are given below. The frame was also lowered by 20 feet in the tower at this time. Until the time of the closure of this church the bells were popular with peal bands, 199 in total being rung, the last being in August 1959. The bells were transferred to Harbourne to replace the 8 bells there. (q.v.)
(Most of the above information is quoted directly (with permission) from the research notes of Chris Pickford)
The First Ring 1 William Blews & Sons, Birmingham 1868 5-0-21 26.50" 1642.0Hz (G+80c) 2 William Blews & Sons, Birmingham 1868 5-1-13 26.25" 1540.0Hz (F#+69c) 3 William Blews & Sons, Birmingham 1868 5-2-07 28.75" 1359.0Hz (E+52c) 4 William Blews & Sons, Birmingham 1868 5-3-21 30.00" 1206.0Hz (D+46c) 5 William Blews & Sons, Birmingham 1868 6-3-18 32.50" 1070.0Hz (C+38c) 6 William Blews & Sons, Birmingham 1868 7-1-27 34.00" 1007.0Hz (B+33c) 7 William Blews & Sons, Birmingham 1868 9-3-25 37.00" 912.0Hz (A+62c) 8 William Blews & Sons, Birmingham 1868 11-1-21 40.25" 800.0Hz (G+35c)
The Recast Ring 1 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1923 3-1-11 24.375" 1484.0Hz (F#+5c) 2 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1923 3-2-10 25.375" 1399.0Hz (Ex+3c) 3 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1923 4-0-07 27.125" 1246.0Hz (D#+2c) 4 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1923 4-1-4 28.375" 1112.0Hz (C#+5c) 5 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1923 5-2-17 31.125" 990.0Hz (B+4c) 6 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1923 6-2-18 32.875" 930.0Hz (A#-4c) 7 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1923 8-3-22 36.50" 832.5Hz (G#+4c) 8 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1923 12-3-24 40.875" 742.0Hz (F#+5c)
| BIRMINGHAM, St John, Deritend 8, 10-2-16 in F# |
St John, Deritend |
A church here was built as early as the 14th century. It was a chapel of ease to Aston. It was not for 600 years that it became a separate parish and also the parishioners ceased to elect its incumbent. The church was rebuilt in the 1730s and a ring of eight by Robert Wells of Aldbourne was installed in 1776 by Samuel Turner of Whitechapel. The fittings were partially renewed by Blews in 1872, repaired by Barwell in 1895 and again repaired by Barwell in 1913.
The church was closed in 1936 and demolition was delayed by the outbreak of WWII. However, the church was badly damaged by bombing in 1940. The bells were removed in June 1944 when the building was demolished. They were taken to Bishop Latimer’s church, where they were stored for some years before being recast towards a new ring of eight there in 1957-8. (q.v.). Fairly popular for peals in the decade either side of the turn of the 20 century, they were described at the end thus, “The bells, a tuneless peal of eight, … have been silent for some five years, chiefly because, with so many modern peals in the vicinity, they were not considered to be worth ringing”.
(Most of the above information is quoted directly (with permission) from the research notes of Chris Pickford)
The Details of the Bells on Scrapping by Taylors 1 Robert Wells, Aldbourne 1776 5-0-25 27.75" 1505.0Hz (F#+29c) 2 Robert Wells, Aldbourne 1776 5-1-25 28.375" 1420.0Hz (Ex+28c) 3 Robert Wells, Aldbourne 1776 5-2-24 29.75" 1261.0Hz (D#+23c) 4 Robert Wells, Aldbourne 1776 6-0-01 31.00" 1138.0Hz (C#+45c) 5 Robert Wells, Aldbourne 1776 6-2-21 32.875" 1010.0Hz (B+39c) 6 Robert Wells, Aldbourne 1776 7-2-13 34.75" 938.0Hz (A#+11c) 7 Robert Wells, Aldbourne 1776 8-3-14 37.75" 841.0Hz (G#+22c) 8 Robert Wells, Aldbourne 1776 10-2-16 40.875" 757.0Hz (F#+39c)
| COVENTRY, St John the Bapt 5, 9-3-21 |
See the chimes section.
| COVENTRY, Holy Trinity 8, 23-1-15 in Eb |
Grid ref: 140/333786.
Coventry, Holy Trinity |
The wooden tower. |
The ceiling at the level that would have been the ringing room floor of the tower. |
Coventry's power split in medieval times is really demonstrated here. This church all but shares a churchyard with the St Michael's church, now the Cathedral. This is because Coventry used to be split into two power bases, the Crown and the Earl. The boundary line was between the two churches.
Holy Trinity was "Gilbert Scotted" in that the central tower's floors were removed to let more light into the building. The bells therefore could no longer remain in that tower.
There were six bells until 1776 when Pack & Chapman provided a new ring of eight, tenor 20-0-18. Six peals rung on the bells (including one of 10,128 in 1787) between 1776 and 1807. The bells, with the front 7 recast, were hung in a wooden campanile to the side of the church in 1856, the tenor being recast in 1898). This tower was never going to be strong enough to hold a ringing peal and Peter Border told of a time when he rang up the tenor by its wheel to frame height - and then he rang it back down very quickly amidst a load of creaks and groans! After a decade of storage at Taylor's foundry the bells were sold to Christchurch Cathedral in New Zealand for the value of the metal and then incorporated into their new ring of 12.
Chris Pickford in his book on Coventry Cathedral bells says that 2 bells were cracked by 1831 and they were taken down until 1841 after which they were chimed only until 1854. There was repeated structural trouble with the tower, (which again needed a major restoration in 2000). Seven bells were then recast by Mears and all 8 put in the campanile. The tenor was recast in 1898 and the whole lot demolished in 1966/7.
For a full account of the history, see Chris Pickford's article in The Ringing World 22 May 1987.
1 C. & G. Mears, Whitechapel 1856 6-1-6 2 C. & G. Mears, Whitechapel 1856 6-3-14 3 C. & G. Mears, Whitechapel 1856 7-1-20 4 C. & G. Mears, Whitechapel 1856 8-1-3 5 C. & G. Mears, Whitechapel 1856 10-0-8 6 C. & G. Mears, Whitechapel 1856 11-2-21 7 C. & G. Mears, Whitechapel 1856 13-2-17 8 John Taylor & Co., Loughborough 1898 23-1-15
| COVENTRY, St Thomas Longford 3, c3cwt in F# |
Hung dead and 5 trebles added. All subsequently recast.
See the chimes section.
| HAMPTON LUCY, St Peter 5, 8cwt |
Grid Ref: 151/257570.
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This is a little-known lost ring, as the former ring of five here was last rung in about 1822. The three old bells at Hampton Lucy were recast in 1672-3 by Richard Keens of Woodstock who added two bells to make a ring of five. The tenor is believed to have weighed about 8 cwt. The old church was demolished in 1822 to make way for the present building, and very grand church completed in 1826. The single bell now in the tower was cast by Thomas Mears in 1826. It is a large bell in F, weighing 17-0-9. It was intended as the tenor of a future ring of eight, but neither the other bells - nor the necessary framework - were ever installed.
| LITTLE PACKINGTON, 3, 4-0-27 in C |
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Bells of Warwickshire records the diameters as 22", 24.5" & 28.75", all from the Newcombe foundry in Leicester and clocked at time of writing. They were hopelessly unringable. These bells were removed in the early 1990s and used elsewhere, the front 2 going to Halford, to become what are now bells 2 & 3 of 6, in 1996 and the tenor to become no. 5 of 6 at Bubbenhall in 2000. The weights are as installed in their new homes.
1 Thomas Newcombe, Leicester c1580 2-0-18 2 Edward Newcombe & Hugh Watts I, Leicester c1595 2-2-14 3 Newcombe, Leicester c1600 4-0-27
| LOWER SHUCKBURGH, St John the Baptist 3, 5cwt |
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The frame is by George Watson, 1829. Two bells were sold and the other hung for chiming in 1999.
1 Hugh Watts II, Leicester 1620 4cwt 2 Newcombe, Leicester c1600 4¾cwt 3 Hugh Watts, I, Leicester 1601 5¾cwt 31.375"<
| RATLEY, St Peter |
This ring of three, long unringable, have been converted into a chime of four.
See the chimes section.
| UPPER SHUCKBURGH, St John the Baptist 4, 6½cwt in A |
See the chimes section.
| WARMINGTON, St Michael 3, 11cwt in F# |
See the chimes section.
| WARWICK, All Saints Emscote 8, 16-1-18 in F# |
Grid Ref: 151/296658.
The church in the 1860s |
The church, Schoolmaster's House and St Edith's House in the 1920s |
A dramatic picture of the church in a state of demolition |
The interior of the church |
The tower and spire were added in 1872 to the original church of 1854-6. It was paid for by Miss Marianne Philips of Leamington. Miss Philips also gave the bells, six in 1876 and two more in 1885. The bells were rung from the ground floor and hung in a three tier frame, with nos 1 and 4 on top, 2, 3 5 and 6 in the middle, and 7 and 8 below. Eight peals were rung here between 1886 and 1910. Tower said to have been weakened by bomb damage in the air raids which devastated Coventry in November 1940 and they were never rung again after World War II. They were taken down in 1967 and sold to Taylors for scrap. The church was demolished in 1968 - the tower initially "surviving" an attempt to blow it up! The then vicar, Revd. P N Snow described the church as "a good example of Victorian jerry building"!
Picture of church under demolition (1967) is reprinted in Rosemary Booth?s Around Warwick in Old Photographs (Alan Sutton, 1990) p.75, with other pictures of the church. There are pictures in the Coventry Evening Telegraph of 4 August 1967 showing the demolition workers trying to pull the tower over by means of wires attached to a bulldozer, they failed, several times over a period of a couple of weeks! Pulling the rest of the church down was an easier process. On August 15th the tower certainly had the last laugh! The workers again failed to pull over the body of the tower, having knocked down one corner with a bulldozer, and were discussing what to do next when the tower fell over of its own accord.
Previously, there was an article on the dismantling of the bells in the Coventry Evening Telegraph 30 January 1967. The bells were taken to Loughborough to be stored, "Until a decision is taken about their future" In this it says that the churchwardens appealed for £2000 in 1922 for urgent repairs to the tower, which was in danger of serious damage every time the bells were rung - this amount was never raised. The article further says that Taylors advised in 1948 that is was "a waste of time re-hanging the bells". Finally it says that Mr King, churchwarden and chairman of the project committee, says that bells would be installed in the new church, but whether it would be a peel (sic) of eight depended on the architects. There are no bells installed in the new church.
1 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1885 4-1-19 26.25" 2 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1885 4-1-11 27.00" 3 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1876 5-2-05 29.50" 4 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1876 5-3-25 31.50" 5 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1876 7-3-04 34.50" 6 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1876 8-3-14 36.25" 7 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1876 10-3-04 39.25" 8 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1876 16-1-18 44.375"
| WINDERTON, SS Peter & Paul 3, 10-1-8 in G |
Grid Ref: 151/325405.
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1 Mears & Stainbank, Whitechapel 1877 5-2-06 2 Mears & Stainbank, Whitechapel 1877 6-3-11 3 Mears & Stainbank, Whitechapel 1877 10-1-08 39.50"
Installed when the church was built in 1877 and hung for ringing. An unusual three, the notes being D, B and G. The bells were ringable, and were occasionally rung for services by the Brailes band until the church was closed. The bells were taken down in February 1981. The metal was used to provide trebles at Harbury and Wellesbourne with some left over to provide one of the four new trebles at Wolston. I believe that the church has been converted into a private residence.