The Church Bells of Monmouthshire
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The Church Bells of Monmouthshire by Arthur Wright File 01 – Contents, Lists of Plates and Illustrations Foreword and Preface – Pages (i) to (xi) This document is provided for you by The Whiting Society of Ringers visit www.whitingsociety.org.uk for the full range of publications and articles about bells and change ringing Caldicot--Lettering on tenor. Bristol foundry . (£ scale.) THE CHURCH BELLS OF MONMOUTHSHIRE THEIR INSCRIPTIONS AND FOUNDERS WITH A CHAPTER UPON THE CHEPSTOW FOUNDRY Reprinted, with additions, from the pages of " A rchaeologia Cambrensis" W ITH I I PLATES AND 48 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TE X T AND A MAP OF THE COUNTY BY ARTHUR WRIGHT, B.Sc. S E COND MASTER OF L E WIS' SCHOOL, PENGAM WITH A FOREWORD BY H. B. WALTERS, M.A., F,S.A. CARDIFF WILLIAM LEWIS (PRINTERS) LTD. 1942 LIMITE D CONTENTS PAGE LIST OF PLATES IV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS V FoREWORD BY H. B. WALTERS, M.A., F.S.A. vii AuTHoR's PREFACE . IX INTRODUCTION 1-3 THE CHURCH BELLS OF MoNMOUTHSHIRE 4-96 SUMMARY AND CHRONOLOGICAL ACCOUNT 97-116 THE CHEPSTow FouNDRY . 117-26 ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA 127-8 INDEX 129-34 MAP OF COUNTY (folding) at end of book LIST OF PLATES Frontispiece Bristol lettering on Caldicot tenor. I. Bryngwyn lettering, cross, etc. facing page 16 II. Caldicot lettering, cross, and medallion 17 III. Dixton lettering, cross, and heads . 22 IV, 1. Gwernesney bells 23 ii. Kemeys Commander bells 23 V, 1. Henllys lettering and cross .. 23 11 . Llanddewi Fach lettering and cross 23 VI, i. Llanlihangel-juxta-Roggiett-R. Hendley's cross, etc .. 38 11 . Llanlihangel ystern Llewern-T. Gefferies' cross .. 38 VII, 1. Llangattock-juxta-Usk-letters and cross 39 11. R.P. and G.P.'s lettering and date 39 VIII, 1. Llanvetherine-John Baker's marks and date 60 11. Llanwenarth Citra-letters and crown 60 111. Rudhall's "pine-tree" (Monmouth St. Mary) 60 IX, i and ii. St. Bride's Netherwent inscription .. 90 X. Tredunnock inscription 90 Note.- All plates are actual size except No. X, which is on j scale, and the Frontispiece, which is approximately! scale: . The device on the front cover is the medallion on the Caldicot tenor. iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIG. DESCRIPTION PAGE 1. Abergavenny 6, inscription 7 2. Bettws St. David, inscription 7 3. Bryngwyn 2, inscription 9 4. Bryngwyn 3, inscription 9 5. Caldicot 8, inscription 11 6--13. Rudhall's ornaments 23 14. Cwmyoy 5, inscription 22 15. Dixton 3, inscription 25 16. Dixton 4, inscription 26 17, 18. Gwernesney bell diagrams 29 19. Henllys 1, inscription 31 20. Kemeys Commander bell diagram 32 21. Llanddewi Fach 1, inscription 35 22. Llanelen 2, date 40 23. Llanfihangel Crucorney, ting tang, part inscription 40 24. Llanfihangel Pontymoile 1, inscription .. 40 25. Llanfihangel-juxta-Roggiett, inscription 42 26. Llanfihangel ystern Llewern 3, inscription 44 27. Llangattock-juxta-Usk, inscription 48 28. Llangeview 2, inscription so 29. Llangwm Uchaf 1, inscription so 30. Llanhilleth 2, inscription 54 31. Llansoy 2, inscription 56 32. Llantilio Court clock bell, inscription 56 33. Llantilio Pertholey 4, inscription 58 34. Llantrissent 1, date 64 35. Llanvapley 1, inscription 62 36. Llanvetherine 1, part inscription 62 37. Llanwenarth Citra 1, inscription 64 38. Mitcheltroy 2, inscription 64 39. Monmouth St. Mary 7, inscription 66 40. Monmouth Shirehall fire bell, inscription 72 41. Monmouth Troy House clock bell, inscription 72 42. Oldcastle 2, inscription 79 43. Penallt 4, part inscription 79 44. Penrhos 2, inscription 79 45. Raglan ting tang, inscription 87 46. Redwick 3 and 4 wheel stop 87 47. St. Maughan's, inscription 91 48. Undy, inscription 91 All illustrations (except 6-13, which are full size) are on a scale of i· Map. Is based on the t-inch Ordnance Survey map, and is approximately on a scale of 6 miles to an inch. v FORE\VORD MR. WRIGHT has asked me to say a few words in commemoration of the production of his completed work on the Church Bells of Monmouthshire. I have the more pleasure in doing so as I have been closely associated with the work from the beginning, not only with help and advice but in its actual progress within the borders of the county. It now recalls pleasant memories of the time some twenty years ago when I had the satisfaction of sharing personally in his labours, both by journeys on foot or wheel, and by many delightful hours spent in the hospitality of his family and the resulting enjoyment of many talks on the subject of our common interest. I first made Arthur Wright's acquaintance over twenty years ago, and the actual attempt to write a book on the church bells of a Welsh county (if rightly to be so regarded geographically) was really begun by him in the pages of the local diocesan magazine. It was not then realised what a delightful and profitable study it would turn out to be. The exploration of English church bells had been begun many years earlier by Canon Ellacombe and one or two of his contempo raries. The first-named was the real pioneer of the subject and a man of monumental industry even in his old age, revered by all who were proud to enjoy his kindly acquaintance. By the time with which I am now concerned, some half of the English counties had been, if not completed in print, at any rate begun in collections of notes, and for the most part fortunately completed in book form. Only twelve out of the forty still await a complete and proper publication. Fortunately, owing partly to the laudable perseverance of the Cambrian Archaeological Society, which has done much to earn the gratitude of both Wales and England, we have been able to find valuable results accomplished even amid the horrors of war time, and to see given to the world the first successfully-attempted Welsh county, and in a comely and beautifully printed and illustrated volume. Though it perforce contained much of an unavoidably dull and uninteresting nature in an archaeological volume, owing to the numerous bells of modern churches or the changes made in vii X AUTHOR'S PREFACE Some work had-been accomplished by the late Rev. Meredith Morris, of Clydach Vale, Rhondda, who had started a collection of inscriptions, etc., but wrote me (June, 1917) that he had met with little encouragement, and had not made much progress. His death took place shortly afterwards, and I am not aware what became of his notes, which were, I believe, confined to the Llandaff diocese. A few deaneries in Monmouthshire and Glamorgan were dealt with by me in the Llandaff Diocesan Magazine during 1917 to 1919, but this publication ceased in the latter year. I continued however to collect inscriptions, etc., and personally visited every church in Monmouthshire (as well as most of those in Glamorgan and many in the other South Welsh counties), and examined the bells, rubbings being taken of all the older and more interesting inscriptions, together with casts of lettering, makers' marks, etc. There is in the county a rather high proportion of turrets, all more or less difficult of access, whilst some of the towers themselves are not easy to negotiate for various reasons, and thus it has needed a good deal of bodily activity, as well as perseverance, in the endeavour to make the record as nearly complete as possible. In a few cases it has been necessary to read the bells from below through glasses, and in one case (Llanfair Kilgedin, p. 38) no reading has been possible. · · In August, 1920, I had the privilege of the company of Mr. H. B. Walters on a week's walking tour around Usk, 1 during which we examined twenty-six churches and sixty-seven bells. From my first acquaintance with Mr. Walters in 1917, I have had the benefit of his willing and able assistance in cases of difficulty, and it is not too much to say that without his aid and encouragement this book would not have been undertaken. He has also helped much by reading the work in proof, and by writing a foreword to the book. The county as a whole is rather uninteresting, especially in the industrialised west and north-west, but in the rest of the area much remained untouched by recent changes. The following deserve special mention : the four long-waisted early thirteenth century bells at Gwernesney (2), Kemeys Commander (1), and Bettws Newydd (1); the very interesting late thirteenth century inscribed 1 And on two similar tours in Somerset, 1922 and 1923 (Taunton district and Wells). AUTHOR'S PREFACE xi bell at St. Brides N etherwent, which is probably unique, and should be scheduled as an "ancient monument" ; and the tenor at Caldicot with its beautiful lettering and unique medallion. In 1936 the Cambrian Archaeological Association kindly offered me the hospitality of their pages for the results of my researches, and thus were put on record the Church Bells of 1\;Ionmouthshire, the fir:)t \Velsh county to be thus published. setres or The,.eight articles which appeared, with ten plates and forty-eight illustrations in the text, in Archaeologia Cambrensis (Vols. XCII to XCVI), is now reproduced in book form, with additions, by the permission of the Editorial Committee of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, and I gladly take this opportunity of acknowledging my obligation to the Committee, and my indebtedness to the Editors, the Rev. Canon Ellis Davies, M.A., F.S.A., and the late H. Harold Hughes, M.A., F.S.A., for their consideration shown at all times and their interest taken in the work.