Grid Reference:-
139/153792
Postcode:
B91 3RQ
Bell Audio:-
None Available
Guild Affiliation:-
St Martins Guild
Peals Rung Here:-
Felstead Database
Sunday Ringing:-
1015 -1100
1730 - 1820
(Q.P. on 1st
evening)
Practice Night:-
Tuesday
1930 - 2100
History Of The Bells
This is a majestic "spired" church that is situated in the centre of town; one that can be seen from quite a distance.
The current ring is a successor to an 8 cast by Henry Bagley between 1683 and 1686. Previous to this the "third bell" had been recast by Gawin Baker of Henley in around 1600 and again by Paul Hutton of Nottingham in 1618 and weighing 15-1-6. A bell had also been recast in 1581. The tenor was a recast of a 1659 bell. In 1552 there had been "iij belles and clock and ij sacring bells" in "Solyhull". The bells survived the damage caused to the spire by a hurricane. The fittings were damaged and the tenor fell out of the frame and this needed to be repaired. The bells were tuned in 1858 and the belfry repaired in 1867
Of the Bagley ring, the third (previously recast by Lester & Pack in 1753) and fifth were recast by Barwell in 1894, the same time as they rehung the bells and added two trebles to make the ring up to 10. The frame is by Taylors 1932 when the whole installation was renewed, modified to accommodate extra bells in 1968. The semitone bell, cast 1996 and dedicated 1997, is the the pit formerly of the 4th of 10 (left vacant between 1968 and 1996) and bells 4, 5 and 6 are in the pits created by the insertion of three lowside pits to the south of the 1932 frame.
All the bells were cast with flat tops. They form a fine ring of 12.
Details Of The Bells
1 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1968 3-3-11 1846.0Hz (Bb-17c) 2 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1968 4-0-14 1644.0Hz (Ab-18c) 3 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1932 5-0-19 1557.0Hz (G-12c) 4 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1932 5-0-25 1386.0Hz (F-14c) 5 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1932 5-1-25 1232.0Hz (Eb-17c) 6 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1932 5-2-05 1162.0Hz (D-19c) 7 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1932 6-1-05 1036.0Hz (C-17c) 8 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1932 7-2-16 923.0Hz (Bb-17c) 9 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1932 9-2-11 821.0Hz (Ab-20c) 10 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1932 11-0-03 776.0Hz (G-18c) 11 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1932 14-0-09 692.0Hz (F-16c) 12 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1932 21-1-11 616.5Hz (Eb-16c) 6b John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1996 5-3-26 1101.0hz (Db-12c)
Details Of The pre-1932 ring
1 James Barwell, Birmingham 1894 5-2-1 2 James Barwell, Birmingham 1894 5-3-0 3 Henry Bagley II, Chacombe 1683 6-0-2 4 Henry Bagley II, Chacombe 1683 6-2-23 5 James Barwell, Birmingham 1894 7-2-4 6 Henry Bagley II, Chacombe 1685 8-3-0 7 James Barwell, Birmingham 1894 9-3-2 8 Henry Bagley II, Chacombe 1686 11-0-12 9 Henry Bagley II, Chacombe 1685 12-2-21 10 Henry Bagley II, Chacombe 1685 19-1-21
Photo Gallery
None Available