Church Bells of Warwickshire
Notable Bells
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Bells of over 25cwt (or c1250Kg). Brailes | Coventry Cathedral | Nuneaton | Rugby School | Stratford Upon Avon |
BRAILES
Tenor 29-0-19 in C - see main entry
COVENTRY CATHEDRAL
Tenor 33-3-6 in C sharp - see main entry
NUNEATON
Former Courtauld Works, Marlborough Road: clock bell, 30-1-21 in D.
The factory was built in 1920 for Courtaulds whose Coventry factory (1913) on the Foleshill Road also had a clock tower. The clock bell at Coventry was of medium weight, but at Nuneaton the architect Harry Quick ordered a much larger one - to weigh 30 cwt. - cast by Gillett & Johnston in 1920. The factory buildings may have been demolished now, but Chris Pickford certainly heard the clock bell on visits to Nuneaton up until the mid 1980s. The Courtauld works at Flint in North Wales also had a Gillett clock with a 29 cwt hour bell.
The clock and bell have now been moved to the HQ of the British Horological Institute at Upton Hall, near Newark in Nottinghamshire where they are on display.
RUGBY SCHOOL
Bourdon Bell, 64-2-20 in B flat.
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The bell. |
The tower of Rugby school chapel is a striking feature of the townscape both within the town and from the surrounding countryside. The tower was built in 1872 and it was not originally intended to contain bells. In 1914 the family of the Rev. Charles and Mrs. Many Ann Elsee offered a bell in memory of their parents. Canon H.J. Elsee, a well-known ringer who served as President of the Lancashire Association from 1890-1936, was chiefly responsible for this magnificent gift to the school. Cast by Taylors in 1914 and hung for ringing, this was one of the first bourdon bells in the country to be hung for ringing. James George, the noted tenor ringer, was appointed as the official bellringer in 1914.
1 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1914 64-2-20
Taylors modified the fittings to enable the bell to be swung automatically by electric motors in 1963. It was again rehung in 1987 when Taylors fitted a new horseshoe-shaped headstock for slow swinging by motor drive
STRATFORD UPON AVON
The Guild Chapel - curfew bell, 27-3-2 in D.
The west tower of the Guild chapel contains two bells - a large one (the Curfew bell) and a small one - though in 1721 (when Richard Sanders had his foundry in the town) there was a proposal to scrap the old bells and install a ring of six. The Curfew bell was originally hung for ringing in a massive wooden frame, new fittings being provided by William Blews of Birmingham in 1877. It was hung dead during restoration work on the tower in the 1970s - a very unsympathetic job and an ignoble fate for such a very fine bell. In 1992 the bells were retuned and rehung by Taylors, the Curfew bell being rehung with a new horseshoe-shaped headstock for slow swinging by motor drive. The smaller bell is hung dead with an electric tolling hammer
1 Robert Wells, Aldbourne 1782 3-0-0 2 Hugh Watts II, Leicester 1633 27-3-2 in D