SURREY BELLS AND LONDON BELL-FOUNDERS BY J. C. L. STAHLSCHMIDT File 02 – Part II – The Church Bells of Surrey Founders’ Marks, Customs, ABINGER to CLANDON (EAST) Pages 75 to 145 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 PART II. THE CHURCH BELLS OF SURREY, THERE are in the county of Surrey 388 churches and chapels, containing, as far as I am able to ascertain, 1030 bells. These figures do not pretend to perfect accuracy, as there may have been a few churches recently opened for Divine worship of which I have not heard ; and again, I have not perfect information as to the number of bells in each of the new churches. In default of information, I have credited each church with one bell only. Of the above churches and chapels 147 only are of older foundation than the present century. They contain 694 bells, the dates of which are as under : Pre-reformation bells ... ... 22 1570 to 1600 ... ... ... 13 1 60 1 to 1700 , ... ... ... 134 1701 to 1800 260 1801 to 1883 250 In addition, there are 15 bells whose date it is impossible to fix with accuracy. It is almost needless to state that the 76 The Church Bells of Surrey. remaining 336 bells required to make the grand total of 1030 are all dated in the — The Church Bells of Surrey, yy sequence, so far as can be ascertained or reasonably surmised, and grouping together those bells which by Identity of stamps or lettering show signs of affinity. First, then, as earliest In date, we have to deal with those bearing Inscriptions in Lombardic letters (sometimes called "uncials " or " Gothic capitals "). Of these there are 6 still to be found ; and, in addition, one which has been recast, with the original inscription ad- mirably reproduced in facsimile by Messrs. Warner and Sons. First in order comes the single bell at Chaldon, the church famous for its magnificent twelfth century fresco, covering the whole west wall of the nave. That the bell is as old as the fresco I dare not avow, but It Is undoubtedly the oldest bell In the county. In shape very like a common flower-pot, but the crown rather spherical than flat, the sides almost straight and not fining off into a sharp angle below the sound bow, but ending with an abrupt curve, and apparently of the same thickness all tlie way down. It is very like an early Italian bell figured by *' " Mr. Ellacombe in his Bells of the Church (Fig. 3, p. 530). There are no '' lines " on the bell except at the inscription band. The inscription is in well-formed letters, specimens of which are given on Plate XL, Nos. 148 to 151. I think it may be certainly reckoned as not later in date than 1250, and from its archaic shape may well be much older. — 78 The Church Bells of Stirrey. The 2nd bell at Bisley I place next in point of date. It bears the unusual inscription in somewhat smaller letters than the last. The alphabet is much like one used by Richard de Wymbish (see ante, Plate II.). The inscription is not, as usual, on a band below the shoulder, but directly on the angle formed by the crown and the shoulder. Specimens of the lettering are given on Plate XL, Nos. 152 to 159. I was at first inclined to ascribe the casting, or rather the gift of this bell, to the abbot and convent of Chertsey, who were Lords of the Manor of Bisley, but my friend Canon William Cooke, F.S.A., kindly reminds me that *' Fraternitas " is never used to signify a monastic community. It means a body of externs either attached to a monastery or a parish church. The privilege of '' Fraterni- tas " conferred great spiritual benefit on the person enrolled from a participation in the prayers and devotional offices of the monks or clergy. It also carried with it obligations, and was a means of securing favour and protection to the mon- astic community. The form of admission to Fraternity found " at the end of the Exeter Pontifical concludes thus : Magister ad petentem dicat : We take yow Maister N. into oure Bretherdon, graunting to yow the spirituall partetaking of all masses, matynes, evensongisy praiours, fastingis^ abstinencis, wacchiSf labores, and other good dedis, the wheche to the praysing of God teethe don among tis and all oures.'' Wicliff denounced letters of Fraternity as one means used by the — — The Church Bells of Surrey. 79 Friars for *' wynning of worldli good or worldl wirschip that thei coveten," and Piers Plowman wrote " For while Fortune is thy friend friers will the love And fetche the to their fraternitie."—Fo. liii. b.* I am inclined to date this bell as early in the fourteenth century, during the abbacy of John de Rutherwyke, 1307 to 1346. The donors were doubtless the fraternity attached to Chertsey Abbey, to which house Bisley belonged. Two ancient bells at Wotton next claim attention. They are both evidently from the same foundry, and bear the fol- lowing inscriptions II. + ^©'M.M-^MS^mB m^n.%BW% ^M^^^m The initial cross on both is Figure No. 160, and the stop, No. 161, occurs between each word. The letters are bold Fig. 160. Fig. 161. and well-formed, if in. in height. The curious conglomera- * In the Additional MSS. (No. 5827), p. 212, is the admission of Richard Olney and his daughter to the Fraternity of the Charterhouse in 1437. 8o The Church Bells of Surrey, tion of crosses on No. i bell is given in Figures 162 and 163. The stop and lettering are much Hke those used by Stephen Norton (Plate VIII.), but are plainer and uncrowned. They are doubtless of the latter half of the fourteenth century, Fig. 162. Fig. 163. and are the workmanship either of a Reading or London founder. We now come to a small group of bells, evidently allied to — The Church Bells of Surrey, 8i one another, although, as I think, by no means the work of one founder. The single bell at Chelsham is inscribed in large elegant capitals, with a fleur-de-lis (No. 164) between each word, and the initial cross, No. 165. Fig. 164. Fig. 165. The 5th at Limpsfield has been recast, but the original inscription has been most admirably reproduced in facsimile by Messrs. Warner and Sons. It has the same initial cross and stop, and the legend Bells with this lettering are fairly abundant in Essex, Kent, and Sussex, and are doubtless the work of a London founder — not impossibly William Burford, of whom I have spoken in Part I. of this book. Nos. 166 and 167 are specimens. Connected with these bells is the 2nd at Merstham, dedi- cated to St. Katharine, with a black-letter inscription ; but M 82 The Church Bells of Surrey, the capitals used are those found on the last two-mentioned bells. The Initial cross is also the same. Fig. 1 66. Fig. 167. Two other bells bear the same capitals, but they bear a distinctive foundry mark, and are, I think, from a different maker. They are the 3rd at East Horsley and the single bell at Headley. The black-letter "• smalls " on these are different from those on the Merstham bell. They bear the cross No. 165, but in addition the other well-known cross No. 168, and foundry shield No. 169, known as the cross and ring shield. Fig. 168. Fig. 169. The Church Bells of Surrey, 83 If the capitals used on these bells were, as I fancy, the property at one time of William Burford, we may ascribe the Merstham bell, later in date, as being in black letter, to Robert Burford, his son. At his death the foundry came to an end, and the stamps passed into other hands. Not impro- bably those of Richard Hille. I have already given my reasons (p. 54) for connecting the "cross and ring" shields with Richard Hille, and Johanna, his wife ; afterwards, probably, the wife and ultimately the widow of one Sturdy. If what I have there advanced be correct, we must connect with these last two bells—at East Horsley and Headley— the little 3rd bell at Stoke D'Aber- non bearing the cross (Fig. 170), and initials + I O H (Fig. 171) with coin (Fig. 171^), and ascribe the founding of this last to Johanna Sturdy, Y\Q. \1\ a, widow, about the middle of the fifteenth century. Fig. 170. Fig. 171. The remaining bell in the county with an inscription en- tirely in capitals is the 5th at Chertsey, which local tradition — 84 The Church Bells of Surrey states to have come from the abbey at the dissolution. It bears the same inscription as the ist at Wotton, in handsome crowned letters (Plate XII.). It has, in addition, the well- known initial cross, given on the same plate, the '* Lion's Head," foundry stamp No. i8i, and a coin. The stop be- tween each word is given in Figure 182. Fig. 181 Fig. 182. With this bell is connected by stamp and lettering a small group of five ^' black-letter " bells—at East Clandon, Chid- dingfold, Ewhurst, and Seale. The Seale bell (lately recast) bore the cross and the lion's head only, without any inscription. The other four bells each bear the lion's head and the coin, and the capitals used on them (always crowned) are those used on the Chertsey bell.