Grid Reference:-
140/330726
Postcode:
CV8 3DN
Bell Audio:-
Hear the bells
Guild Affiliation:-
Coventry DG
Peals Rung Here:-
Felstead Database
Sunday Ringing:-
1015 - 1100
(Exc 1st)
Practice Night:-
Thursday
1930 - 2100
History Of The Bells
A very pleasant village near to the National Agricultural Centre that hosts the Royal Show. Formerly having a somewhat paternalistic Leigh family, up at the Abbey means that there is no pub in the village, only a club. Following the signs from the A46, as you enter the village centre you bear to the right and quickly turn left towards the church. Limited parking is available by the churchyard gate. Entry is via the west tower door and thence up a wooden staircase to the ringing room.
The third bell, which is listed, has the initials "R K" on the waist of the bell and these are presumed to be those of Richard Kidderminster, last abbot of Winchcombe, who held office from 1488 to 1531. It is also presumed that this bell was initially cast by John Wooley, then a servant to the Selioks in Nottingham and later in business by himself, for Winchcombe Abbey. The Briant bell is similarly thought to be a recasting of a bell from the Abbey.
Tilley and Walters noted that the five bells were "fixed dead, with hammers, and never rung". The bells now go well, the then five bells being rehung in a six-bell cast iron lowside frame by Taylors in 1956 and the treble being added in 1962-3. The treble was cast with a flat top and the canons have been retained on the other bells, these having canon retaining headstocks. They also have been quarter turned.
Details Of The Bells
1 John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1962 4-0-06 26.50" 1318.0HZ (E-1c) 2 Thomas Eayre I, Kettering 1752 5-3-19 31.00" 1176.0Hz (D+2c) 3 John Wooley Nottingham c1525 5-1-23 31.50" 1047.0Hz (C+1c) 4 Hugh Watts, Leicester 1632 6-0-15 32.00 988.0Hz (B+0c) 5 John Briant, Hertford 1792 7-3-02 35.50 881.0Hz (A+2c) 6 Hugh Watts, Leicester 1632 10-2-14 39.25" 782.0Hz (G-4c)
Photo Gallery
The church looking east |
The Alice Leigh memorial |
The carving on the Norman chancel arch. |
Looking west, the ringing room is behind the organ |