The Church Bells of Lancashire
The Church Bells of Lancashire
BY
F. H. Cheetham
File – 05: Part V The Hundred of Lonsdale
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Frn'.ll an c·ngra-.ing by R. Langton, in I'alali>te .Yote Boak, iv, 12t. \The larger :}f thic two bdts, <1"ted q9G, is th(; earliest dated beU in E"gbnrl.) 1 z5
THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE.
BY F. H. CHEETHA'.\I, F.S.A.
PART V.
THE HUNDRED OF LONSDALE.
FOREWORD.
WITH the Hundred of Lonsdale my catalogue of the bells in the older churches of Lancashire is completed. The work was begun before the War and in preparing the first instalment for the printer in April, 1915, I expressed the hope that the whole would be completed by 1918. Unfortunately the course of events did not allow of this, and after-war conditions have made it impossible to proceed with the printing of the later instalments on the same scale as the earlier ones. The notes on which the following pages dealing with the Lonsdale Hundred are based were made chiefly in the
summer of 1920 and spring of 1921 1 and what I have written must be taken to refer to those years. In lgo6 the late Dr. Raven stated that "practically nothing " could be said about the church bells of South Lancashire, but North Lancashire had "begun to yield its treasures " as a result of the. researches of the late Mr. Harper Gaythorpe in the Furness district.1 The
J. The Bells of England, by J. J. Raven, D.D., F.S.A. (The Antiquary's Books, 1906), 183. 126 TIIE CIIC:NCJI IJELLS OF Ll.YC.ISJIINE
reproach contained in the first part of this statement I daim already to h a n~ removed, and in presenting this last instalment of my "annotated schedule" it 'falls to me to complete what ::\lr. Gaythorpe began more than twenty years ago. It . " ·as not "South Lancashire " only of \Yhich "practically nothing" could be said, but all Lancashire south of the Sands. In introducing this series of papers in 1915 I stated that it would be necessary to hold over a summary of .i:esults until the ,,·hole of the county had been dealt with, and I expressed the hope that I might be permitted to add this final chapter as well as to give some account of the Lancashire bell founders. Something of the kind seems necessar): .to complete the \vork. A~ on previous occasions my thanks are due to all who ha\'tf assisted me in my investigations and especially to those incumbents who have so readily afforded me facilities for examining the bells under their charge and in some cases for access to vestry minute books and church,rnrdens' accounts. In expressing my thanks for the last time I recall many acts of kindness and expres sions of interest and goodwill which will always be a happy memory. \Vhere so many have helped it would be invidious to mention names. ~ly thanks are also due to Mr. S. B . . Gaythorpe, of Barro,\·-in-Furness, for much local information and for permission to use his late father's published writings on the church bells of the Furness district; to Viscount Cross for permission to inspect the medi~val bell at Eccleriggs; to the Rev. Canon Elsee, M.A., for the loan .of rubbings; to ~Iessrs. :Mears and Stain bank, of \Vhite .chapel, and ~Iessrs. John Taylor & Co., of Lough borough, for information regarding bells cast by them; and to ::\lr. H. B. \Valters, :\I.A., F .S.A., who, as before, has helped me in many ,,·ays and has again been good .enough to read o,·er the proofs. In formC'r instalments an endeavour has been made to THE CHURCH BELLS OF L1 tYC:ISIIIJIE 127 reproduce by suitable type something approaching the style of lettering of the inscriptions. It is never easy to do this quite satisfactorily, but the printer has overcome many difficulties. Owing, however, to the cost incurred it has been found necessary to reduce the number of the founts of type used. I regret this, but it cannot be helped. As regards pre-Reformation bells, it being impossible to reproduce all the various forms of m e di~val letters found in the inscriptions, one fount of type (JI 8) is used to indicate Lombardic capitals, or Gothic majuscules, and another (a b C) to indicate black letter, or Gothic minuscules. The attempt to distinguish the artistic lettering used by the Rudhalls and some other founders in the eighteenth century is maintained, as well as the "'lower case ' letters of the Ashtons ·of '1Vi-gan, ·but the various forms of lettering (Roman and Gothic) found on modern bells are now represented by one type only small Roman. Except where otherwise stated, all the inscriptions have been copied and the diameters measured by the writer, who has personally thus examined 94r bells in 248 churches. F.H.C.
THE HUNDRED OF LONSDALE. The Hundred of Lonsdale falls naturally into two distinct parts separated by the estuary of the river Kent and kriown respectively as Lonsdale North and South of the Sands. The latter, or Lonsdale proper, comprises all the Lancashire portion of the Lune valley and extends southward as far as the river Cocker and the upper course of-the \Vyre. On the north its boundary is vVestmorland. North Lonsdale consists of the districts of Cartmel and Furness, and is physically pa[t of the Lake District. Ecclesiastically both parts of Lonsdale belonged to the diocese of York before the Reformation, but were assigned ·with the rest of the county in r541 to the new diocese of Chester. On the creation of the See of 12S TllE C/lCRCll I!f:U_.;;; OF LISC.lSJlIRE
Manchester in 184j Lonsdale South of the Sands 1 was included in the new diocese, ''"hile the deanery of Cartmel and Furness, othenYise Lonsdale ::\orth of the Sands, was transferred to the diocese of Carlisle. Since 1847, there fore, the two portions of Lonsdale have been ecclesiasti cally separated, and chiefly for this reason it will be best, in dealino- with the Church Bells of the Hundred, to treat 1'> North and South Lonsdale as distinct and separate are~s, as indeed they geographically are. Their ecclesiastical separation seems likely soon to cease with the creation of a new Korth Lancashire diocese, but at the time of writing Korth Lonsdale is in the diocese of Carlisle and South Lonsdale in that of l\Ianchester. As the greater part of the diocese of :\Ianchester has already been dealt with it naturally follows that Lonsdale South of the Sands should be taken first.
SECTIO:s I. SouTH Lo:-.;snALE. Lonsdale South of the Sands comprises the ancient parishes of Bolton-le-Sands, Claughton, Cockerham, Halton, Heysham, Lancaster, Melling, Tatham, Tunstall, Warton, and \Vhittington. It lies wholly within the diocese of Manchester and the Archdeaconry of Lancaster, and includes the Rural Deanery of Tunstall and part of that of Lancaster. There were forty parishes in South Lonsdale in 1921. The pre-Reformation chapels are represented by the following churches : Arkholme, Caton, Ellel, Gressing ham, Hornby, Leck, Over Kellet, Overton, Silverdale, Tatham Fell, and \V yresdale. The ancient chapel of St. Patrick, at Heysham, is now in ruins. Lancaster Parish Church is in direct descent from the church of the Benedictine Priory of St. l\Iary, and there were als~ two friaries and a hospital at Lancaster. Other monastic
1. Ecclesiastically ' such parts of the respective deaneries of Kendal and Kirkbv Lonsdale as are in the county of Lancaster.'
THE Cll U RC'll ll EU .S OF Lt.YCASlllUE 12<)
establishments in South Lonsdale were: Cockersancl Abbey, Cockerham Priory, \Vyresdale Abbey, and Hornby Priory, but of none of these does the church surviYe. A chapel at Aughton \ms probably in existence before the Reformation, but the date of its foundation is not known. Only four new churches appear to have been built in South Lonsdale during the eighteenth century, and t\\·o of these were in Lancaster-St. John's (1'j54) and St.. Anne's (1796). The other two were at Poulton-le-Sands, now known as l\forecambe (Ii45), and at Littledaie, near Caton (1752). The present series of papers, as previously explained, is concerned only with bells in churches founded before the end of the eighteenth · c~ntury . .f As·regards -the lnvent-0ries of 1552 in South Lonsdale only five returns have come to light-Bolton-le-Sands, Gressingham, Halton, Tunstall, and 'i\Thittington. They are all dated September 19, 1552 .1 · The oldest bell in South Lonsdale is the larger of the two at Claughton, which is .. dated I 296, and is of more than ordinary interest, being (so far as is yet known) the oldest dated bell in England. There are also mediceval bells at Arkholme, Bolton-le-Sands, Halton (two), and Over Kellet. The Arkholme bell is apparently of fourteenth century date, and that of Bolton le-Sands of the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century, probably by R. Mellour of Nottingham. The two Halton bells are by Thomas Bett of Leicester, who was casting about 152g-38; and the second bell at Over Kellet, which is of about the same age as that at Bolton le-Sands, is by an unknown founder. Of twenty-one mediceval bells noted in Lancashire, six are thus in South Lonsdale. To the Transitional or Middle Period (1550- 16oo) belong the second bell at \Varton (15i4) and the tenor at Halton (1597). Four bells of seventeenth century date still remain in
• 1. They are printed in Cl1etlia111 Soc., New Series, vol. 47. 130 TIIF: Clll'RC!l BELLS OF L.1SCAS/ll1"E
South Lonsdale, the oldest being the trc>ble at Caton, cast by \\-.Oldfield in l6o5. The Caton tenor is dated 1617, and is probably by Robert Oldfield. The treble at Qyer Kellet is by \Vm. Cucrdon or Samuel Smith I of York (1664), and the second at Bolton-le-Sands bv \Villiam Scott of \Vigan (1694). Scott also recast tw~ bells for Lancaster Parish Church in 1693, but. they were after- wards .melted clown. The number of eighteenth century bells remaining is thirty-six,1 made up of three rings of six-Cockerham, Hornby, and "Ielling-a ring of three at Tunstall, and fifteen other bells in eleven churches.2 The oldest of these is a bell formerly at Overton Church dated l 707, and next in order come Tunstall treble ( l 7 IO), t\YO at Heysham (1723, 1724), Bolton-le-Sands. treble (1724), Caton second (1724), Claughton (1727), Tunstall second (1729), tenor (1731), \Varton tenor (1731), \Vhittington tenor (1739), Gressingham (1740), \Vyresdale (1744), Ripley Hospital, Lancaster (1744), St. John's, Lancaster (1747), Coc_kerham (six, 1748), "Melling (five, 1753, treble 1754), Hornby (six, 1761), Tatham treble (1771), Tatham Fell (1779), and \Varton treble (1782). The treble and tenor at Hornby are undated but seem to have been cast with the others. Of these thirty-six bells that at Overton is by R. Ashton of \Vigan, and those at Caton, Claughton, Gres singham and Heysham by his successor Luke Ashton. The Tunstall treble is apparently by \Villiam Scott of Wigan, the second by E. Seller of York, and the tenor ·by Samuel Sfuith II of York. Samuel Smith also cast
I 1. Or thirty-seven, including the undated bell at Littledale. The bells at Aughton, Silverdale old chapel and St. Ar.ne's, Lancaster, may be -eighteenth century. 2. Strictly speaking, thirteen b~_lls in eleven churches-the other two bells being respectively at Overton School and the Ripley Hospital, Lancaster-both originally church bells. TJIE CHURCll BELLS OF L.l.YC.ISJ/lHF. 131
the Dolton-le-Sands treble and the \Varton tenor, and E. Seller the \Vhittington tenor. The rings at Cocker ham and ~Icllin-g are from the Rudhall foundry at Gloucester, and probably also that at Hornby, but the Hornby bells have no maker's name or initials. Rudhall .also cast the fourth bell at vVhittington, the single bell .at Wyresdale, and a ring for the parish church at Lancaster, two of \vhich only survive, one at St. John's Church, Lancaster, and the other at the Ripley Hospital. · 'The \Varton treble is by George Dalton of York. There is no maker's name or mark on the Tatham treble or on the single bell at Tatham Fell. At Littledale the bell is blank, but it almost certainly is of eighteenth century . .date. Of nineteenth century bells the oldest is the anony mous single bell at Elle! dated 1804, and next in order .of date the tenor at Over Kellet, cast by Thomas· 1Iears II fo 1824. The large bell at St. John's, Lancaster, was .cast for the parish church by C. and G. Mears in 18-i.6, .and before this paper appears in print ~!ears and Stain bank will have added two new bells to the ring at Hornby. The present ring of eight at Lancaster Parish -Church dates only from r885-6, and is by John Taylor .and Co., of Loughborough. The same firm cast four bells for Whittington in 18j5, two for Tatham in 1887, .and a ring of five for Leck in 1914. The ring of six at .Silverdale is by John \Varner and Son, of London, 1886, .and that at Morecambe by Charles Carr of Smethwick, 1897. The single bell at Overton is by \V. Blews and :Son of Birmingham. Those at Aughton, St. Anne's Lancaster, and the old chapel at Silverdale must go · ·unrecorded owing to difficulty of access. The above summary deals with eighty-eight bells in ·twenty-eight1 churches. The only ring of eight is that .at Lancaster Parish Church, but there are rings of six
1. Twenty-nine incl;,,ding the chapel of the Ripley Hospital. 132 Tl!E CIIVR('ll BELLS OF LIX C.15 11/RE
at Cockerham, I Iornby,1 ::\f elling, ~I o re ca mbe, Silvcrdale and \Yhittington; of fiye at Leck; and of three at I3olton le-Sands, Halton, Q,·er K ellet, Tatham, Tunstall, and \Varton. Claug hton, Heysham, and St. John's, Lan caster, ha,·e each t\YO bells, and the remaining churches one bdl only. In t\Yenty cases the bells hang in towers, and in eight . in bell-cotes accessible only by ladder from the outside. Sixteen of the tO\\·ers have sta ircases, but in four access is by ladders only.2
ARKHOLME. One bell.
l~ + lfiC : J2JIZRR€1lUS REX IUD€0::: RUlll : fl£1 : D€1. (21 in. diam.) Hung in stone bell-cote over west gable: no wheel, chimed by lever from floor of church. The bell is in an excellent state of presen·ation, the letters--\\·hich are on separate stamps- being quite sharp. This is no doubt due in some measure to the fact that the opening of the bell-cote is closed on each side by moveable wooden 'louvres which protect the bell from ~he weather. The inscription is in Lombardic capitals of fourteenth century type, and the bell is probably of that period, though the fact that in the north of England the use of ·such lettering oft~n survives till the fifteenth century should not be lost sight of. Tlie bell preserves its cannons and is of a type which occurs in Yorkshire. As far as I am aware no description of this bell has before been printed, but Mr. H. B. \Valters informs me that there is a rubbing of it in
r. Homby was increased to eight in 1922. ~ 2. Gressingham, St. John's Lancaster, :>forecambe, and \Vyresdale. At Moreca mbe parish church there is a door from the .west gallery to the ringing-chamber, from which there is a trap door to the clock-space, and from that another trap to the bells. At Silverdale the stone stair goes. only a s far a s the ringing chamber-the rest by a fix ed ladder.
THE CHURCH BELI.S OF LANCASHIRE 133
Canon Ellacombe's collections at the British l\Iuscum, made many years ago. I was, however, unaware of this on my visit to Arkholme, and my inspection of the bell gave me all the pleasure of a " find." The motto is fairly common in one form or another on pre-Reformation bells. The simple "superscription of His accusation," for instance, occurs on eight bells in Leicestershire, and two others have the extended form " I.H.C. Nazarenus Rex Judeorum Fili D ci miserere mei."1
AUGHTON. ST. SAVIOUR. One bell. Hung in bell-cote over west gate. Chimed from floor of church by rope through roof. vVheel and wooden headstock. The roof is of very steep pitch and the only ladder available at the time of my visit was too short. Access to the bell was therefore impossible. Aughton (pronounced Afton) chapel, in the parish of Halton, is mentioned in the Commonwealth Church Survey as being without endo,vment. Its foundation is unknown, but 'vas probably older than the Reformation.2 The chapel was rebuilt in 1716 and again in 1864. The bell may be co-eval with one or other of these re buildings.
BOLTON-LE-SANDS. HOLY TRINITY. Three bells.
1. GLORIA [] IN [] ALTISSIMIS I] DEO [] 1724. (36 in. diam.)
2. 5n ~ulceMne l?ocfs cantabo tuo _!>Onte 1694. I W.S. j (40 in. diam.) 3. )%{ fi~c cam.,ana Sacra ffat ~rinitat~ B~ata. a and [J below. (44 in. diam.)
1. T. North, The Church Bells of Leicesters11ire (1876), 33. 2. V.C.H. Lanes., viii, 126. 134 THE Cl!L"RCH BELLS OF L:IXC.IS/IIRE
Hung in wooden frame in west tower, <1nd rung from chamber on first floor. In 1906 the bells were quarter turned, refitted, and rehung in a new-frame designed to carry a ring of six, by ~Iears and Stainbank. For some time before this date the bells had not been rung "o,,·ing to the dilapidated and faulty state " of the frame\YOrk. 1 The cannons haYe been removed from all three bells, which are now bolted through the crowns to wooden. headstocks. A clock strikes the hours and quarters on the bells. 1552 : Thre bells and on sacring bell. All these three bells are of interest, and fortunately they are in a perfectly sound condition. There are references to the first and second in a manuscript book called " Parochial Records of Bolton-le-Sands," com piled by the Rev. Robert Gibson, :\I.A., who \YaS vicar from 1824 to l~i4· Through the kindness of the late · vicar, the I}ev. J. T. Ormerod, ~I.A., I have had access to this volume, and from it have taken the extracts given below. These extracts \Yere copied by ~fr . Gibson from an old minute book of parish matters then in " the Town's Box," but now unfortunately lost,2 !vritten by John Statter, Schoolmaster and Parish Clerk, who died in 1736. They speak of events, therefore, known to the writer, and may be taken as contemporary evidence, though copies only of the missing original.
1. Local circular dated April 26, 1906. The work of clearing the tower of the old framework had then been begun. 2. By the courtesy of :Mr. Brearley, clerk to the Parish Council, I. was permitted to look through the contents of the 'Town's Box ' ; but the }finute Book mentioned by '.\lr. Gibson is no longer there. In wha~ year Mr. Gibson copied these passages cannot be stated, but presumably the book was still in the Town's Box at the time of his death in 1874. It was entitled " Some remarks concerning Bolton . Church and School auring the time of me John Stalter, being Schoolmaster and Parish Clerk." The date is not given, but Statter's tombstone gives the year of his death as 1736. THE CIIURC/1 BELLS OF L1XCISIIIHE
TREBLE. The first bell is by Samuel Smith II of York, who succeeded his father the first Samuel Smith in 1709 and was casting down to 1731. Like nearly all Smith's bells it has an ornamental border below the inscription in which are repeated numerous bells and shields with the initials "S.S. Ebor." In this case the border is made up of 5 in. stamps, each with a shield and two bells. There are also 4f in. ornamental stamps between the words of the inscription. Samuel Smith also cast the tenors at Tunstall (q.v.) and Warton (q.v.), both dated .1731. From John Statter's evidence we know that this was a recasting of an older bell, probably one of the three mentioned in the Edwardian Inventory. Statter writes:
1724. The little Bell cast anew at York by one Sarni Smith. He had £,1-1 per cwt. viz. 112 lb., for casting and 1.4d per lb. for what ·new metal he put into it. It weighs about 8 cwt. and cost just £9-1o-6 with the new metal about 19 lb. And one Jas. Garnet carried it to York, had it cast in t_wo days' time, so brought it back in about 8 days, going and coming, for wh he had £3-0-0. Inscription on the liell ' Gloria in altissimis Deo.'
SECOND. This is also a recasting of an older be!I, probably the second of the Edwardian inventory. It bears after the inscription a stamp with a bell between · the initials W .S ., similar to that on the second bell at Tunstall (q:v.), and on the former second at Broughton in-Preston.1 This is the trade-mark of William Scott, of \Vigan, who held the foundry there from about the year 1673. The word " Wigan " is not on the bell, but Statter records:-
A..D. 1~4. The Middle Bell was cast anew at Wigan which cost £17 besides carriage.
1. See Transactions, xxxvii, 44, where it is by error stated to be by \Villiam Seller, of York. I am now satisfied that this is not so. The stamp on the Broughton bell was precisely similar to that on the bells at Bolton-le-Sands. and Tunstall. 130 TTIE CllL"RC!l BELLS OF LIXCISTIIRE
The motto "In dulcedine vocis" \vas a fayourite one of Scott's.
TENOR. This is a Yer\' interestino- bell and is almost . "" certainly from the Xottingham foundry, probably by Richard ::\Iellour (qSS-1508). The letters and the inscription are similar in character to those on the fifth ·and sixth bells at Sefton, 1 which are :by H enry Oldfield II of ~ottin g ham (c. 1590), who inherited the old stamps from his predecessors. Like the Sefton bells, this is a good example of what are known shortly as " Trinitate Bells," or bells dedicated to the Holy Trinity, on which the inscriptions are Yariations of the hexameter "Trinitate Sacra Fiat Hee Campana Beata " {;\fay th.is bell be sanctified by the Holy Trinity), a formula much favoured by r!1e Xottingham founders. The Bolton-le-Sands tenor is a heaYier bell than the tenor at Sefton, being 2 in. more in diameter (roughly 14 cwt. as against 12 cwt.). In addition to the initial Rose stamp the bell has on the upper part of the waist, immediately below the fillets of the inscription-space, the maker's mark of a shield together with a rectangular stamp with a figure of St. Andre\v on his cross. The shield is directly beneath the initial Rose, and the St. Andrew stamp slightly to the left of the T of "Trinitate." The illustrations of these stamps here given makes a detailed description of them unnecessary.2 The Rose and the Shield are frequel!tly found together on bells in different parts of the country,3
1. See Transactions, xxxii, ~- 2. They are figured in more than one of North's books. See Church Bells of Leicestershire, figs . 32 (shield) and 75 (St. Andrew). The initial Rose is fig. 52 . For the shield _see also Ellacombe's Bells of the Church, 1872, fig. 84. 3· For instance, at Croxton Kerrial (second}, Dalby-on-the-\Volds (third), Knipton (first), and Welham (second), all in Leicestershire (see North, op. cit., 81); also at Aldingham (third) in North Lonsdale. ST. ANDREW STAMP.
SHIELD. RUSE. (For type of lettering see Sefton, .;th and 6th Bells, Trans., xxxii.)
. BOLTO~-LE-S.\NDS.
ST~~Mrs o;-.; TDrOR BELL (•·uu. s1zE). THE CHURCH BELLS OF LIXC:ISIIIRE 137 and North, writing about 18i6, thought there were good reasons for attributing them to the early Nottingham founders. 1 The St. Andrew stamp is found along with them on the second bell at \Ve!ham, in Leicestershire, but the inscription is different from that at Bolton-le-Sands. The vVelham bell has in addition three coins, which were declared by the Rev. Assheton Pownall, F.S.A., to be ce~tainly fifteenth century groats.2 The shield, with its cross, bell, letter R, and two crowns, is now generally conside!"ed to be the mark of Robert ~Iellour, 3 "Alderman and Belyetter," who was twice mayor of Nottingham, in 1499 and in 1506,' and presumably the other stamps are his also. That of St. Andrew measures J! in. by 2! in. The-note .of -the-bell is G. · · In 1868 the Rev. R. Gibson fitted up at his own cost a chiming machine, by which the bells could at any time be chimed by one man. This was in consequence of the difficulty experienced in procuring a ringer in place of one who had resigned. Mr. Gibson's chiming machine no longer exists. The present pendulum clock, by James Condliff, of Liverpool, is dated r 836. It replaced an earlier clock made by Vlilliam Bilsborough, of Gargrave, which was set up in I 715 and cost nine guineas, the dial plate 12s., and the case 30s. When erected it was known as the " new brass clock " and· was taken as old metal by Mr. Condliff. The new clock was given by R. S. Berry, Esq., and cost £227 6s. std. It was set up in 1837.5
1. North, Ch. Bells of Leicestershire, 82.
':t. North, op. cit., JOI. J· Walters, Ch. Bells of England, 20J, Jo6. 4. Raven, Bells of E.ngland, 177. Robert Mellor died about 1508 or 1509. See also North, Ch. Bells of Lincolnshire, 102.
S· From Rev. R. Gibson's ~IS. book. 13S THE CllL' R CJI BF. Ll.S OF Ll.YC.IS!l/RE
CATON. Three bells.
1. 3-n IDnlccNnc Uocis Cm1tabo ~no 1J.1oe 1603. D (32 in. diam.} 2. Gloria · in 0 Excelsis · Deo 0 1i24. 0 11 'it•aisl : Luke (shield) Ashton Wiggan (35 in. diam.) 3. IN IVCVNDI TATE SON I SONA BO TIBI DOMINE. B elow: 1517 IT Rm:. .\L AR~IS on waist. (38 in. diam.}
Hung in wooden frame in \Yest tower, and rung from floor of church. Cannons and \Yooden headstocks : large wheels 78 in. diam. There is a clock dated 1837, which strikes the hours on the tenor. The bells are out of repair and the tenor is · "clocked." In the church accounts for 1920-21 is the item "Bell Ringers .£3-1-6." Caton was formerly a chapel of the parish of Lancaster. The tower appears to have been built in 153j,1 but the rest of the church is modern (1854-7). TREBLE. The first bell is by 'Villiam Oldfield, of York, who was casting there in 1601-1645.2 Each word of the inscription is on a separate stamp and the l and c of "dulcedine " are run together. After the date is the · maker's mark-a small shield with a bell between the initials \V. 0. One of the six cannons is broken. _ SECo~m. The second bell is by Luke Ashton, of \Vigan, and the inscription is in his characteristic "lower case" lettering, with heart-shaped stops after the words "Gloria" and "~xce lsis," and oval stamps (the nature of which it is difficult to distinguish) after " in " and "Deo." The inscription space is made out with a
1. Deposition in 1542 quoted in r.C.H. Lanes., viii, 83 (note 73) . 2. See H. B. \Valters in l'.C.ll. l'orks., ii, -l5L THE CIIC.:RCll Br:LLS OF L:l.'iCISHIRE 139' border of inverted cresting. The shield on the waist is charged with a bell, and is supported by two winged amorini, or angels, and has a crown above.1 There is also a bell in front of the word "\Viggan." This is one of Ashton's heaviest bells, being only exceeded in Lancashire by that at North l\Ieols, which is 37! in. diam. TENOR. The third bell is probably by Robert Oldfield, perhaps the father, or elder brother of the William Oldfield2 who cast the treble. The date and shield with the maker's initials are immediately below the inscription band, between the end and beginning of the inscription, breaking a line of inverted cresting which goes all round the bell below the fillets. The shield, or maker's mark, has a bell between the initials R.O., and terminates in a fl.eur de lys. At the top of the waist, immediately below the date, are the Royal Arms of James I within a garter, crown above, lion and unicorn supporters, and motto "DIEV ET !\ION DROIT." Filling the upper spaces of the large rectangular stamp, on either side of the crown, are the rose and shamrock (dexter) and thistle (sinister). The whole is a fine piece of work : the shield itself is lf in. by It in. The letter's of the _inscription are 1i in. high and have a highly enriched background (omitted m illustration) in which the national emblems figure. A Robert Oldfield is known to have cast a bell, no longer existing, for Houghton-le-Spring, co. Durham, in 1615, and he is probably the R.O. whose initials, together with 'those of \V. Oldfield, are on a bell at Broughton in-Craven cast in the same year. "These initials, R.O., are not found elsewhere in Yorkshire, but it was probabl v the same man who cast a bell at Castle Sowerby, Cu~ berland, in 1586, and the bell at Keswick Town Hall in
r. Compare second bell at North Meols, by Luke A~ton, 1750. See Transactions, xxxii, ;9. 2. Walters, V.C.H. l"orks., ii, 451. 140 THE Cll"L'RCJJ BEU.S OF LIXC.ISITIRE
1601."1 The inscription "In Jucunditate soni sonabo tibi D omine" was a favourite ,,·ith 'Villiam Oldfield, and on his earlier bells he used the Rornl .-\rms.2 It is therefore reasonable to assume that the Caton tenor is by Robert Oldfield, though not certain. " There is nothing to show where Robert worked except his one recorded association with \Villiam,"3 who was certainly a York founder. Robert may have itinerated, like Richard Oldfield, in the \Vest ~Iidlands, 4 and if so it is possible that the bell was cast in Caton.
CLAUGHTON. ST. CHAD. Two bells.
1. Nichelas. Fenwick. ,Esqr. H: Croft. T: Sweetl<>ff. Wardens • 1727. Below: Luke ) Ashton I (18! in. diam.) Fecit ( Wigan ' 2. ANN 0 · D NI . M . CC. N 0 N OG . J\ I. (see facsimile.) (21 in. diam.)
Hung in double bell-cote over \Vest gable, the smaller on the north side. \Vooden head-stocks, no wheels : chimed by levers from floor of church. The openings
1. V.C.H. Yorks., ii, 451. See also Trans. Cumb. and Westmor. Ant. and Arch. Soc., xi, 156. 2. V.C.H. l'orks., ii , 451. 3. Ibid. + Walters, Ch. Bells of Shropshire, 436 ff. In addition to the Robert and \Villiam Oldfield mentioned above there \Vere four other contemporary Oldfields-Henry, of Nottingha m (1582- 1620), Robert, of Hertford (16o5-40), R ichard, itinerant (16o6·40), and George, of Nottingham (1620-80). After seeing a rubbing of the middle bell, Mr. H. B. Walters writes: "The R.O. bell at Caton is interesting for this reason. There is a curious family likeness in the lettering and date-figures of all the contemporary Oldfields.. . . But it may be merely a coincidence. Nobody, however, has ever explained the apparent offshoots of the Nottingham Ol c. 1740 Brown Willis noted three bells at Claughton. FmsT. The smaller bell is by Luke Ashton of \Vigan, and the inscription is in his characteristic " lower~ca s e " lettering. In the present instance his usual heart-shaped stops occur only after the words "Esq., "Croft," and " Wardens," the other stops being of the ordinary circular type. The oblong maker's stamp is high up on the waist below the word "Nicholas." Nicholas Fenwick was Lord of the Manor of Claughton at the time the bell was cast. The rector was then non-resident. SECOND. ·The larger ·bell, quite the most interesting in the county and perhaps in the kingdom, has long been known to campanists, and is the earliest bell in England bearing an actual date (1296). This was first no!ed in 1853 by the late Canon Grenside, who was then curate at Claughton. The inscription (see illustration) consists of the date (year only) together with an initial cross, and is usually stated to be in small Roman letters. The type of the lettering is in reality somewhat mixed, the A being certainly not Roman, and the C is definitely Gothic. The he_ight of the bell, exclusive of the cannons, is . 16! inches, and the note is "a little above E flat."1 The original cannons have been at some time cut away, and the improvised new ones are now very rusty. The present rector (Rev. E. Harrison) informed me in 1921 that Canon Grenside took away the old clapper "some years ago " and provided a new one.2 1. Palatine Note Book, iv, 121. The height is to be remarked. In bells of this period (which· are usually very narrow and long-waisted) we should expect the height to be fully equal to the diameter (cf. Cocks' dimensions of the Caversfield bell). - - 2. Canon Grenside was Vicar of the neighbouring parish of Melling from ·1855 till his death in January 1913. He was born in 1821. 142 THE Cl/l'RCll !JELLS OF L.l.\"C.ISlllRE . There is an illustrated account of this bell b\· ?\Ir. R obert Langton in the Palatine Sate Booh, vol. iv, pp. 121- 123. It is referred to in most of the books on bells: see particularly Ellacombe, B ells of the Church,1 p. 250; G. S. Tyack, A Book about Bells, p. 46; E. Axon, Bygone Lancashire, p. 1 q; H. B. \ Valters, Church Bells -0/ England, p. 22; J. J. Raven, The Bells of England, p. 63. l\Ir. Langton, \Hiting in 1884, says: Both bells are now chimed for divine service only ; and on Christmas Eve it [the older bell] is, l am told, • rung for the Nativity ' by some of the youths of the village. \.Yhilst being the earliest dated bell in England, it is not. claimed for the Claughton bell that it is the oldest. But there are, perhaps, in the whole of the kingdom only four or five inscribed bells which on paheographical grounds may be assig ned to an earlier period. One of these is at Caversfield, Oxfordshire, and~ dates probab_ly from about 1200-15; another at Chaldon, Surrey, is <;. 1270; and a third at \Vest Thorney, Sussex:, is of about the same date. At l\larton-cum-Grafton (Yorks.) there is a bell with inscription in " Saxon " letters, dating from .about 1250, while the fourth bell at Goring (Ox:on) is not later than 1290. The bell at Scawton, in the ~forth Riding of Yorkshire, which has been assigned to the twelfth ce~tury, is probably not earlier than the end of the thirteenth or beginni.ng of the fourteenth century. 2 -COCKERHAM. ST. MICHAEL. Six bells. 1. PEACE & GOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD A (bell) R 1748. (29 in. 'diam.) r. It is there stated that ' a full-sized drawing of the bell \\·as exhibited -at the Museum of the .\rchreological Institute at Lancaster 1869, ' by E. G. Paley, Esq. 2. See H . B. \\'alters in V.C.H. Yorks., ii, 4-19, and Ch. Bells of Engla11d, 204, 303. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LL''iC:1SIIIR£ 143 2 · PROSPERITY TO THIS PARISH A (bell) R 1748 (29! in. diam.) 3· WE WERE ALL CAST AT GLOUCESTER BY ABEL RU DHALL 1748. (31t in. diam.) 4· ROBT GARDNER EDW° FRANCE ROBT FELL STEP": BOND CH:WARDENS 1748. _ (32} in. diam.) 5. THE REV0 MR THo~ WIN DER VICAR A (bell) R 17 48. (35 in. diam.). 6. I TO THE CHURCH THE LIVING CALL & TO THE GRAVE DO SUMMON ALL 1748. ·(39in. -diam.) A full ring by Abel Rudhall, of Gloucester, 1748. Hung in wooden frame in west tower and rung from chamber on first floor. Rehung by Mears and Stainbank in 1888. The cannons have been removed from Nos. l, ·5 and 6. Cabled cannons to No. 2, moulded to Nos. 3 and 4. Wooden headstocks. The inscription space on Nos. I and 2 is made out with upright cresting, and on No. 5 with a running border. The approximate weights and notes are given on a framed card in the ringing chamber, signed by Mears and Stainbank, as follows:- · 1. 4} cwt. Note E 4. 7 cwt. Note B ·2. 5 ,, ,, D 5. 8 ,, ,, A 3. 6 " " c 6. I I " " G The Rev. Thomas \Vinder was vicar from 1737 till his death in 1781. "He was resident in 1741, but ultimately he became deranged and Cockerham was under seques tration for many years before his death.'1 The tower is ancient, but the rest of the church was rebuilt in 1814 and again in 1910-14. 1. V.C.H. Lanes., viii, 92. 'H THE CHFNC!l HELLS OF LJSC.ISIIIHE ELLEL. ST. Jou:-:. One bell. I. On waist: ELl,EL CHAPEL 1804. ( I .)2- l tn.. d.iam. ) This is the bell from the old chapel of Elle! (no,,· used only for mortuary purposes) taken to the new church of St. John, built in 1goj. It has four cannons and wooden headstock, and is hung from iron brackets. against the wall of the central to\Yer, in the north-west angle. It is chimed by a lever from the choir, which extends beneath the tower. The bell has no maker's name or mark and is probably of local manufacture. The old chapel, which \vas rebuilt in 1800 and is some distance away, retains· its rounded-headed bell-cote, .now empty, over the west gable. Elle! \vas a chapel of ease to Cockerham and existed as far back as the twelfth century. The building pre ceding that of 1800 had a bell over the west gable.1 GRESSINGHAM. ST. JOHN. One bell. ' 1. Gloria . in . Excelsis . Deo . Thomas. Williamson • Warden · 1740. On waist: Luke (Shield) Ashton (33! in. diain.) Wiggan. Hung in west tower in wooden frame. Six cannons. Rung from ground floor, but the wheel (which is 68 in. diam.) is now rotten.2 The bell-chamber at the time of my visit was very dirty and neglected. Access only by ladders. This is another of Luke Ashton's larger bells, ~nd has on the \mist the ~hield charged with a bell and supported by amorini as at Caton (q.v.) and North l\Ieols. The 1. r.C.H. Lanes., viii, 101 (note 70). 2. Yisited May 3, 1921. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LIXC.ISilIRE 145 inscription is in Ashton's characteristic "lower case " lettering with heart-shaped stops, but there is no stop between the \\·ord " \Varden " and the date. 1552 : Towe belles. Gressingham was formerly a chapel of the parish of Lancaster. A local writer says:- Gressingham to\\·er ... holds one excellent bell, and quite enough, as Hornby can be so distinctly heard from the churchyard.I The same writer tells the following story. There is no date, but from the context it apparently refers to the early nineteenth century :- Tm Gres~ingham 'statesmen get shav«I -0nce a week. A g.reat man was the shaver. He had all the news, and one Sunday a 'states man came to be shaved before church. ' I will stay till the bells knows (i.e. chimes) to mark the commencement of service,' and sat and gossipped on. • What i~ yon? Lots on the road, where do the. folk come fra? Hes bell knowed ?' Alas, it was the congregation returning from church. The hours of worship had gone in gossip.2 HALTON. ST. w ILFRID. Three bells. 1. see petre op n (shield) (31 in. diam.) :z. see tobmmes op n {shield) (35 in. diam.) 3. RESPICE FINElll l\IAIUA 1597. (40 in. diam.) Hung in old triangular wooden frame in west tower. The frame is in a state of decay and all three bells are in bad repair. 3 They have not been rung for many years, and one, I am afraid, is now past saving, owing to neglect in the past and the fatal practice of " clocking." It seems inevitable that sooner or later all three bells will 1. ' Wykehamist ' in Lancaster Observer, July 16, 1887. 2. Ibid. 3. Date of visit ;\lay 7, 1921 . 146 THE CHURCH BELLS OF L.·IXCASIIIRE haYe to be recast, 'd1ich is much to be regretted, two of them being of pre-Reformation date, and the tenor a good example of the "middle period." For the character of the lettering see illustration. ' 1552 : thre bells one hande bell one _I?·ttil sacring bell. . .FIRST. The first bell, "·ith its invocation to St. Peter, has· it maker's mark with the initials T.B., identified by North as belonging to Thomas Bett, of Leicester, who held various offices in that town between 1524 and 1538, and is known to have been casting bells during the period 1529-38. This bell and its companion (the second) may almost certainly be assigned to that decade. A bell with a similar inscription, also by Thomas Bett, was formerly the first of a ring of three at Broiighton-in-Preston,1 but was melted down in 1884. The tower at Broughton bears the date 1533 and may have been erected in that year. At Caton, which is close to Halton, the tower seems to have been built in I5Ji, and it is not unreason able to suppose that Halton was constructed, or recon structed, about the same· time. There is reason for believing it was,2 and that the existing first and second bells 'vere cast at the same time. A piece, 14 in. by 3 in., is broken out of the rim, probably the result of "clocking" in the past. But the bell is still used in this way, that is, chimed by tying the rope to the clapper. SEcmm. This, like the first bell, is by Thomas Bett of Leicester, and bears his mark. It is badly cracked along the)im for about 12 in. or more. '.fhe clapper is tied, but the bell is not used. 1. See Transactions, xxxvii, 43. 2. In depositions made in 31 Henry VIII (1539-40) a witness, aged 56, stated that it was in his recollection that the tenants of Halton dug stones on the moor towards the building of H alton steeple ; Duchy of ·Lane. Dep. xxxdii, D 1, quoted in l'.C.H. Lanes., viii, 123. The dispute was a boundary dispute. TJIE CHURCH BELLS OF LAXCISillUE q/ THIRD. The tenor has no maker's name or mark and the Roman lettering is of a type I have not met with elsewhere in Lancashire. The cannons have been removed and the bell is bolted through the crown to a wooden headstock. The clappt;r is missing and there is a large piece broken from the rim as in the first bell. In addition, a crack extends from the rim straight up the waist to the middle of the word " Maria," over " finem " and so to the crown above " respice." -The tower is the only part of the ancient church which remains, the rest having been rebuilt in 1792, and again in 1877. H'EYSHAM. ST. PETER. Two bells. 1. Edward • Edmundsen • John . Chaffer • Wardens • 1723. Below: 0 Wiggan I I (18! in. diam.) 2. Matthew Hadwen • Edward . Edmundson • Wardens · 1724 • Below: (19! in. diam.) Luke 0 A8hton I . I Fecit Wigan Hung in double bell-cote over west gable. vVooden headstocks, no wheels. Chimed by levers from inside .Church. Both are by Luke Ashton, of vVigan, the inscriptions being in his characteristic " lower-case " lettering with heart-shaped stops. I have not examined these bells except from below (from where the inscriptions .are plainly visible in part), but ~he above particulars are taken from notes and rubbings made by the Rev. T. A. Turner, of Burnley, on October 24, 1877. These rub bings were some years ago loaned to Mr. H. B. \Valters, M.A., F .S.A., at the British Museum, where I copied 14S THE CIIURCII RELLS OF LISC.lSlllRE them in 19q.1 The Rector of Heysham (the Rev. C. C. T. Royds, :\!..-\.)assures me that there has been nothing done to the bells since 1877. Browne \\'illis, about 1740, noted three bells at Heysham, but it is difficult to see "·here a third bell could hang in the present building, which apparently has undergone no constructional change at the west end since the time that Ashton's bells "-ere hung-. HORNBY. ST. ~L\RGARET. Six2 bells. 1. HONOUR & HONESTY, LOVE & LOYALTY> PEACE & GOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD. (29 in ..diam.) 2. M° Christophero Skirrow & M0 Richardo Howson Sacrorum I Curatoribus Spectatre Fidie & Probatatis Laude lnsignibus An : Dom : I 761. · (30 in. diam.) 3. Optima: Spei Adolescenti Francisco Charteris ivnri a Castro Hornby Armigero I An: Dom: 1761. - (31! in. diam.) 4. Honoratiffimre Feminre Domina:: Catherina: Charteris Pietate I Benignitate ac Morum Suavitate Ornatissimce An: Dom. 1761. (32! in. diam.) 1. They were returned to the Rev. Archer Turner (son of the Rev. T. A. Turner) in 1915, and are now in his keeping. :z. Two ~rebles, by Mears and Stainbank, were added in 1922, in order to complete the octa,·e. The inscriptions, in Lombardic capitals. and smalls, are: (1) Campana s_ Margaritae, V.'.\L I '.\IC'.\IXXII I Ex dono J. Garnett; (2) Campana S. Georgii, '.\1. I '.\IC'.\IXXII j J-G. The, diameters are 25~ in. and 26 in. respectively. THE CHURCll RELLS OF LINCASIIIRE 149 5. Honorabili Viro Francisco Charteris a Castro De Hornby I Patrono Moribus candidis Arti bus Pue Ingenius Vere Nobili An: Dom: 1761. (36 in. diam.) 6. Laudo Deo Verum, Plebem Voco, Congrego . Clerum, Defunctos Ploro, Pestem Fugo, ffefto DECORO (39i in. diam.) Hung in octagonal \vest tower in· wood and iron frame. Pits for eight. Rung from chamber on first floor. Cabled cannons to first and second, moulded to third and fourth; cannons removed from fifth and tenor, which are bolted to headstocks. The inscriptions on Nos. 2 and 5 are in two lines, as Indicated by bars, and tbe spaces are made out with running ornament. " Fidie " is the spel ling on the bell (second) and "Artibus Pue Ingenius" on the fifth should read "Artibusque Ingenuis." The q was apparently put the right way in the mould and so came out reversed asp in the casting. A framed, but. undated, card in the vestry gives the notes and approximate weights as below, with the head ing, " Rudhall Gloucester Fecit." I. ·· ·········· ··· 4! C\Vt. ··············· E 2...... D 5 " ·········:······ 3. ··············· 6 ··············· c " ...... B 4· ···········!'••• 7 " 5...... 8 ··············· A 6. II " G1 ··············· " ··············· The bells are without founder's name, initials or mark, and the lettering, with perhaps the exception of that on the treble, is totally unlike any used at the Gloucester 1. Messrs Mears and Stainbank write: ' We do not think the Tenor exceeds ro! cwt. as it is only 39! in. diameter, and is a. quarter of a note flat of G. 150 THE CHURCH BELLS OF L.-INCJSIIIRE foundry. It is a Yery refined "lower-case" type, quite different from that used by Ashton of \\'igan, and haYing little in common with that employed by Thomas Harrison at Hawkshead ( 1765). On the tenor the word " decoro " is in small Roman characters, and altogether, judged simply by the style of lettering and absence of maker's initials, the bells are somewhat of a puzzle. But failing any evidence to the contrary they must, .I think, be· attributed to the Gloucester foundry, for a peal of six at Hornby, tenor 11 cwt., appears in the " catalogue of bells cast at Gloucester" in Canon Ellacombe's book,1 and l\Iessrs. ).!ears and Stainbank state that they are so recorded in Rudhall's list. There was probably some local and special reason for the use of a new type of lettering, but the absence of the maker's name or initials is unusual. Two of the bells are undated, but they all appear to have been cast at the same time. Abel Rudhall had died in -1760; his sons Thomas, Charles, and John succeeded him: The chapelwardens' accounts have no mention of the casting of the bells. , The inscriptions on Nos. 2-6 may be thus rendered in English 2 :- 2. To Mr. Christopher Skirrow and Mr. Richard Howson, chapel waqlens, distinguished by reputation, of proved faith and probity. 3. To Francis Charteris, junr., of Hornby Castle, .esquire, a youth of the brightest promise 4. To the most honoured lady, Catherine Charteris, highly adorned by piety, kindness, and sweetness of character. 5~ To the Hon. Francis Charteris of Hornby Castle, patron of the chapel, truly noble by a beautiful character and liberal arts. 6. I praise the true God, I call the people, I assemble the clergy, I _mourn the dead, I put to flight the plague, I honour joyful festivals. The Francis Charteris named on the fifth bell was the second son of Janet, daughter and heiress of the infamous Francis Charteris who acquired the Hornby estate in 1. Ch. Bells of Gloucestersliire, 1881, pp. 75-'77· 2. For these versions I am indebted to Mr. J. Brownbill, M.A. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASIIIRE 151 1713 and died in February, 1731-2. Janet Charteris married James, 5th Earl of \Vemyss, and Hornby "was given to their second son Francis, who took the surname of Charteris."1 He was born in 1723 and was therefore thirty-eight years of age when the bells were cast. He married in 1745 Lady Catharine Gordon·, daughter of the second Duke of Gordon, and died in August, 1808. His wife's name is on the fourth bell. She died in 1786. Their son, the Francis Charteris, junior, of the third bell, was twelve years old in 1761, and died in January, 1808, eight months before his father. On the door of the ringing chamber, written on a card, is a set of rules, as foliows :- . RINGERS, RULES. This is a Bellfray that is Free To All that Civil be But if you appear in Spur or hat your fourpence pay For that is Wat And if to the Bells you wish To go your fourpence pay or Stay Below And if you Ring a peal of Six Your shilling pay for that Is fixed. And if a Bell you overthrow Your Sixpence pay before You go HORNBY, June 4th, 1821. 1. V.f:.H. Lanes., vjii, 19!}. • His elder brother David joined the Stewart rising of 1745 and was attainted. He escaped abroad and died in Paris in 1787. Francis thereupon assumed the title, though the attainder was not reversed till 1826.' See also Burke's Peerage, where Francis Charteris i_s styled 7th Earl of Wemyss, his elder brother David being 6th Earl. Debrett recognises neither brother as having succeeded to the earldom, and styles Francis' grandson (who succeeded him in 1808) 6th Earl, thus making the present peer 9th Earl of \Vemyss, whereas, accordirtg to Burke, he is 11th, and to Fox-Davies, 10th Earl. TIIE CHl"RC'II BELLS OF L!SC.ISHIRE CHAPEL WARDE;-;s' .\ccoc::-ns. Hornby \\·as a chapel of the parish of ~Ielling. There are chapelwardens' accounts from 1730 to 1879, but unfortunately no details of expenditure are giYen till 1763 and not continuously till after 1797. Before 1763 only the total amounts raised and spent are giYen. Christopher Skirrow of Hornby and Richard Howson of Botton, whose names are on the second bell, were appointed ch:ipelwardens at the Easter vestry meeting, 1760. They held office for two years, and at a meeting held ~larch 20, 1762, for the examining and auditing of their accounts for this period, it was found that the sum of One Hundred and Seventy pounds eighteen shillings and five pence farthing had been disburst in the years 1760-61, £90 of which was already taxed, and it was ordered that the further sum of Eighty pounds eighteen shillings and sixpence be forthwith taxed in proportionable shares within the chapelry. This sum is considerably in excess of the amount spent in any other two years, and is no doubt accounted for, in part at any rate, by the purchase of the bells, or some of them.1 In 1772 is the following minute :- \Ve have agreed with :'.\fr. Geldard to ring the Bells or cause them to be regularly rung by sufficient hands and to toll 15 minutes every Sunday morning when required at the rate of 8s. ~r Bell and 3 pound of Candles and 4s. per annum for all regular ringing days. do. Mr. Sidebottom is to have 15s. for regulating clock. do. We agree to pay the usual price for clerkship and tolling, viz. £1-66. and 5s. for tolling as Thos. \Vmson received. In the accounts for this year (1772) \Villiam Geldard is paid £2 8s. od. for ringing, and in the t,,:o following 1. There may have been other expenditure on the fabric. One of thE signatures of the above minute is that of ' Ja. Wemyss, for the Honbl1 Frs. Cha.rteris.' z. For access to the Chapel \Vardens' account books I am indebted tc the ReY. E. V. Mather, :\LA., Vicar. THE CllURCll BELLS OF L-ISC.ISllIRE 153 years (1773-4) the " Ringers' \Vages" are £2 14s. od. From 1775 to 1779 no details are given, but in 1780-81 the ringers' 'rnges are £J. Again there are no details of expenditure till 1798 when the ringers' wages arc .£4 10s. od., at which sum they remained till 1808. In 1799, at a meeting held on July 23, it was agreed th;it the Ringers' wages shall be withheld from those who cannot give a justifiable reason for neglect of duty. In 1809 the ringers' wages were advanced to £6 6s. od., .and that amount continued to be paid yearly to 1879. There are many entries of payments for bell-ropes, and .also of money received from the sale of old ropes. The .amounts received vary considerably, from 3s. 3d. in 1763 to 23s.--8d. ·ID i824,-0ut.apparently~he . price .given for an -0ld rope was usually about 2s. 6d.1 Some of the pay ments for new ropes are given in the extracts from the Wardens' Accounts which follow:- 1771. To Ringers' Drink etc. 0 I I - Hemp for bellropes 0 0 3 - gre;ise for Bells 0 0 6 - candles for Ringers 0 I 9 - Ringers' drink, 4 days 0 4 0 - Wm. Geldard for ringing bells I 0 0 1772. To Ringers for preserving their ropes as by agreement 0 6 0 - Clerk's wages and tolling I 11 0 - Wm. Geldard for ringing 2 8 0 1773. To Ringers' Wages 2 14 ·o - Ale for 4 ringing days 0 4 0 t7H To Bell ropes I 4 - Qi! for clock & bells 0 2 3 - ringers for 4 ringing days 0 4 0 Similar items occur over a number of years. 18o6. Paid for ropes I 8 0 Given to Burton-in-Kendal ringers 10 6 18o8. John Brackin for repairing Bells 13 0 do. for .candles do. 9 8 1. But in 1;68 the great rope sold for 1s. 6d., and the second for 1s. 5d. 154 THE CITL'RCIT BELLS OF L.-IXC.lSllIRE 1So9. Samuel Ella m for splicing bell ropcs l <> 1810. For Bell Ropes I 18 8 Christopher Bracewell for Fagging of Bell Ropes 3 <> 1812. John Brackin for repairing steeple Bells, &c. 16 9 do. for candles, oil, etc. 8 J. \Villiam Trought for Bell Ropes 2 IO g. 1813. Wm. Selby for fogging for Bell Rope:; 4 10· 1814. Rich 1. Princess Charlotte, presumptive heiress of the Crown, died Nov. 6, buried Nov. 19, 181j. 2. By cash received for old bell ropes 12s. 6d. 3. Frederick, Duke of York, died January 5, buried Jan. 20, 1827. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE 155 1831. Wm. Coulther The later en.tries ..in .. .connection .with the bells have reference almost entirely to wages and ropes. LANCASTER. ST. MARY. Eight bells. 1. J: TAYLOR AND co FOUNDERS LOUGH BOROUGH 1886. 2 The same. 3. J: TAYLOR AND co FOUNDERS LOUGH BOROUGH 188.s. 4- J: TAYLOR & co FOUNDERS LOUGH BOROUGH 1886. 5. J: TAYLOR & C° FOUNDERS LOUGH BOROUGH 1885. 6. JOHN TAYLOR AND co - FOUNDERS LOUGHBOROUGH 1886. '1· The same as No. 5. 8. JOHN TAYLOR & CO. BELLFOUNDERS LPUGHBOROUGH LEICESTERSHIRE 1885. 156 THE Clll'RCJ/ HELI.S OF L.ISC.IS!IIRE On 'ii.'aist: PRESENTED TO THE PARISH CHl'RCH (ST. l\L\Wf'S) L..\NCASTER BY JAMES WILLI.UIS0'.11 ESQ., J.P., D.L. HIGH SHERIFF OF THE COU'.'ITY JOHN ALLEN D.D. VICAR WILLI.HI THO.l\IAS SHARP B.A. }CHURCHWARDENS JOHN HATCH 1885. This ring of bells was dedicated on ~Ionday, July 12, 1886, the day of the arrival in Lancaster of one of the Judges of the Northern Circuit; the ringers went through the first portion of a peal of grandsire triples consisting of 504 changes. The first peal-5040 changes grandsire triples, Taylor's Bob and single variations-\vas rung on Tuesday, March 22, 188j, in 3 hrs. 3 min. The donor of the bells, James \Villiamson, Esq., was M.P. for Lancaster 1886-1895. He \ms treated Baron Ashton in 1895. The different years on certain of the bells are explained by the fact that the ring \ms ordered in 1885, and those bells bearing that year were cast in 1885 and the remainder in 1886. The bells are hung in an iron frame in the west tower. The sizes, weights, and notes, as given by Messrs John Taylor and Co., are as follows :- Diam. Weight. Note. I. 2 ft. 7i in. 6 cwt. 2 qrs. lJ lbs. D flat gl 2. 2 4 7 0 20 c 3· 2 IIj 9 0 2 B flat 21 4· 3 2 10 2 4 A flat 5. 3 618 lJ I 23 G fla't 6. 3 9! 17 0 4 F 21 2 7. 4 4 22 0 E flat gl 8. 4 8 31 0 14 D flat II6 3 26 THE CIIURCII BELLS OF Ll1\'C.ISJJIRE 157 These bells replaced a former ring of eight, by Rudhall, four of which however had been re-cast, one in 1786, and three in 1846. The inscription on the old bells as existing in 1885 were as follows 1 :- 1. I WAS BOUGHT BY SUBSCRIPTION . A (bell) R 17 47 . ... _;. 2, 'c. & G. MEARS FOUNDERS LONDON. On wai'st: RECAST BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIP TION I REV0 I. TURNER, M.A., VICAR I ABRAM SEWARD CHURCHWARDEN 1846 . . 3· PEACE & GOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD A (bell) R 17 44. 4. The same as No. z. S· PROSPERITY TO THIS PORT & PARISH A (bell) R 1744. 6. WM MEARS OF LONDON FECIT LATE LESTER & Co OLIVER : MARTON VICAR JAMES MOORE CH: WARDEN 1786. On waist: PAULO MAJORA I THE LOWTHER 7. Same as No. 2 and 4. 8. ROBT FOXCROFT TH08 HARRISON RICHD GARDNER CHRISTOPHER MALLEY I !OH N SHARP !OH N CROS KELL w~1 CARTER ROBT STOCK B.RI DGE & !OH N BROCKBAN K CH: WARDENS A (bell) R 1744. Of these bells three still remain in Lancaster, the first r. See Roper, .llaterials for the History of the Church of Lancaster (Chet. Soc.), 720-21; and rubbings by Rev. T. A. Turner, of Burnley The diameter of the tenor was 50 in. 158 THE CHURCH BELLS OF L.4.YC.ISIIIRE and fourth at St. John's Church (q.'"<-'.), and the third at the chapel of the Ripley Hospital (q ..-.1.). ~Iessrs. Taylor have kindly furnished me \Yith the "·eights of these old bells, as follo\\·s : - cwts. qrs. lbs. Treble and 4th...... 15 14 2nd ...... 6 0 20 3rd 8 3 . 0 5th...... IO 14 6th...... I I 3 21 7th ..... ······· 16 0 0 Tenor...... 22 14 Total...... go 3 This ring was in lineal descent from four bells which hung in a former tower in 1652. Of these the second and fourth were recast by 'Villiam Scott, of Wigan, in 16g3. ln 1722 the "great bell was cast into two," and a new bell added, making a ring of six. These six were in use tilI 1744 when they were all recast by Abel Rud hall, who added two trebles three years later. Extracts concerning these various bells from the records of the "Twenty-Four" who superintended the affairs of the parish and the churchwardens' accounts are given below. In a report on the state of the old bells presented to the Easter Vestry in 1884 Messrs. Taylor _and Co. said:- We find the peal most wretchedly out of tune, there being scarcely two bells in tune together, and the quality of tone of all of them is very inferior. The effect when they are all ringing in full peal must be fearfully discordant and jarring to people with musical tastes, and it is absolutely necessary to recast all the bells. 1 The following extracts from the Church Books, relating .to the bells and extending over a period of a hundred and 1. Quoted in Lancaster Observer, January 15, 1886. THE CHURCH BELLS OF L1INCASHIRE 159 sixty-three years, are taken from Mr. Roper's History of Lancaster Church :- 1652, April 1. It is appointed and agreed by the 2-f of ye parish of Lancaster that the Clarke and Sexton of ye parish shall take care yt all the ffoure Bells shall be runge upon all occasions, that they be carefully looked to, vizt ye Clarke ye first and ye fourth bell and the Sexton the second and the third Bell : also the Clarke is appointed to looke to ye Clocke and the Sexton is to Ringe ye Bell at 4 of ye Clock in ye morneinge and at Seaven of ye Clock in ye Evening all ye Winter quarter. 1657, April 19. Ordered ... that the Sexton of ye parish shall ringe the Great Bell at seaven of ye Clock at night and 4 of ye Clock in ye morning all ye Winter quarter vizt from the first of November till ye second of ffebr. and for soe doing he is to receive every yeare five shillings. 1665, March 27. Agreement with James Pinder to provide good and sufficient Bell ropes for all the four bells in Lancr Church Steeple and also for the little bell at ye East end of ye Church for 12s. a year and the old ropes. 1673, May. Ordered ... that noe one of ye parish shall take away ye bell ropes without consent of ye churchwardens. 1673, Aug. That 5s. a piece is allotted to ye Ringers for ringeinge Sundays and holy days. 1676, March 27. The names and salaries of the bell.ringers are recorded:- Leo Stain forth} . Jo. Adamson are appointed Ringers and are to have 5s. a Tho. Toulnson peece yearely and ms. for ye yeare by past whereof Geo. Cooper 7s. 1od. is paid in pte. Tho. Jackson 1679. The duties of Tho. Townson include ' ringeinge the Bell at 7 and 4 [and] lookeing att the Clocke.' . 1693, May 10. Whereas Mr Mayor agreed with \Villiam Scott for the castinge the !first and second bells and makeing them tuneable for the sume of !forty markes certain and three pounds referred to the 24tie' of this parish \Ve the 24tie doe agree to the same Agreement made by Mr Mayor and doe desire him to write to Willm Scott to .. perfect the same agreement. It is then also agreed that Mr Mayor and Timothy Gardner shall go to Wigan to see the Bells cast as they shall concei,·e fit and to have 20s. a peece allowed for their paines and expences besides what they shall judge fitt to gh-e and bestow on the Bellffounder or his servants. 160 THE CJ!l.jRCJI BELLS CTF L.lSC.lSIIIRE 1;18, June 15. It is agrc·ed th at an .-\ssc<>ment not exceeding four hundred pounds be allo\\·ed for the repaire of the Church and Steeple and adding t\\·o new Bells. 1722, ..\pril 19. Agreed that the Great Bell which is now broke shall be cast into two smaller and a new one added to make the number six tuneable Bells and that an assessment sufficient to defray the charge be laid through the parish. · 1743, June 13. It is unanimously agreed on that the Church\\·ardens of this Parish contract with Abel Rudhall of Gloucester, Bellfounder, for casting anew the six Bells of this Church according to his proposalls given in and now perused at this Meeting. [Also] lt is unanimously agreed that that frame to be made for the Bells of this Church shall be so ordered and made so as to hold eight bells. 1743, June 19. It is unanimously agreed that the six Bells belonging this .ChW'.ch shall be cast anew and that the Great Bell shall be twenty hundred weight and the rest tuneable and in proportion and to defray the charge thereof an assessment of Two hundred and ten pounds shall be charged and taxed on the Parishioners of the sd Parish whereof One hundred and five poun9s to be raised this year and the other one hundred and five pounds to be raised next year. June 20. It is unanimously agreed on to have the Tower or Steeple of the Church raised ten yards higher for the Better hearing of the six Bells of the sd Church and that an Assessment of One hundred and ninety pounds shall be charged on the said Parish. 1747., Sept. It is agreed that the two new Bells be receh·ed and used in the Steeple of the sd Church as Church Goods and remain as such and that the charge of hanging the lesser of the said Bells be paid by the sd Parish as also that the said two new Bells shall be rung and remain upon the same footing in all respects as the other Bells of the sd Church. 1753, May 16. At a meeting of the Vestrymen and parishioners held • to consider what is proper to be done with the Steeple, which is thought to be in great danger of falling,' it was unanimously ordered, consented, and agreed :-That the Bells be immediately taken out for the preservation of the Steeple and the Bells. I [At a later meeting in June, after receiving an architect's report, it was agreed that the Steeple should be wholly taken down and rebuilt . . This was done; and the present Tower erected. On July 12 the contract was let to \Yilliam Kirkby, mason, of Lancaster, ' to pull down and rebuild the steeple· [and) hang the hens.' The work proceeded very slowly and was not completed till 1755.] THE CHVRCEI BELLS OF L :1NCASHIRE The items of expenditure which follow are from the churchwardens' accounts:- 1751. Paid for sodding Bell House floor 0 2 0 - for. little bell rope 0 0 1752. Paid for seven ringers 7 0 0 1753. Paid Mr. Rigley for taking down the Bells 7 17 6 pd for Liquor and Bread at taking down the Bells 0 14 9 pd Mr. Butterfield for a rope to take the Bells down 3 3 6 1754. Paid for Ale at laying the first floor 0 5 0 - for Ales at sundry times to th.e Steeple 0 16 6 1755. Paid for Carting the bell frame to the Church 0 4 0 Pd expenses at rearing the Steeple 0 6 Pd for Ale to the ringers on ringing the first peal 0 5 0 ---pd·foct\kior1:he ringers on the fifth ~ovember 0 0 Pd for Ale for the ringers on the King's birthday 0 0 Pd for Ale for the ringers on appoint!ng the ringers 0 :a 0 1756. Paid expenses at engaging the ringers 0 2 0 Pd ringers for ringing at declaration of \Var 0 5 0 Pd the ringers salaries 8 0 0 1757. Paid ringers for six rejoicing days 0 7 0 1758. Paid for the ringers Ale 0 5 0 ' Pd expenses consulting about the Clock 1 0 7 0 1759. Paid- for ringers' drink at rejoicings 0 5 0 ·176o. Paid the ringers the night the King was buried 0 0 6 Pd for assisting to ring the great bell 0 10 0 1771. Paid for repairing and raising the Church bells 37 II 6 Pd for· laying the belfry with sodds 0 10 6 1785, The Churchwardens were directed to take urder ' with regard to the recasting of the sixth Bell which appears to this Meeting to be rendered unfit for service, that they do every thing necessary for the taking down of the old Bell and ' replacing the new one and all expences relative thereto to be pay 'd out of the Parish rates.' ·1. In this year the Vestry directed ' that a Clock with three faces be erected and placed in the Steeple,' and on December 1st the contract was given to Joshua Horrocks, clockmaker, of Lancaster, ' according to his scheme now exhibited ' at the price of £58. K 16i TJIE CllURCJI BELLS OF L.IXCASJIIRE liS6. Pa id for ha nging sixth bell 8 ; 9J Paid Thonus ~!ear s of London for recasting sixth bell 20 6 I! 1790 Paid expcnces on recasting little bell 2 18 4 1791. P aid Thomas ~! ea rs for excha nge of little bell I II 2! 1801. Paid for lifting the tenor bell 0 10 6 Drink at ditto 0 4 6 1805. Paid for eight hours tolling minutes for Lord Nelson's funeral o 8 o 1815, June 17. The Churchwarden was authorized to ma ke an agreement with Charles Balshaw for the repairs of the eighth Bell. The following Ringers' Rules are painted in white letters on a black ground on a board hung on the west wall -in -the Ringing Chamber~- ORDERS TO BE OBSERVED HERE. If to Ring you do come Here You must Ring well with Hand and Ear and when your Bell you Overthrow your Shilling Pay before you go your 4d pay Besides all that Whoe'er appears with Spur or Hat and if above you'd wish to go Your 2d you pay or Stay Below. David Johnson Saxton 1797. There is also a modern set of Rules written by hand which were to come into force on Sunday, January 30, 1887. Mention of a clock occurs in the extra~t~ given aoove in the years 1652, 1657, and 1679, and a clock with three faces was ordered to be placed in the tower at the end of I 1758.1 It would be set up in the following year, and the date 1759 is still on the south side of the tower. The present clock, however, was given at the same time as the bells, upon which it chimes the quarters. It is by 1. See note, p. 161. THE CHURCI/ BELLS OF LISCASIIIRE 163 Lund and Blockley, 42, Pall ~!all, London, and was set in motion by l\frs. Allen, \\·iie of the Vicar, on Saturday, January 8, 1887. On the case is a brass plate inscribed as follows : - Presented to the Parish Church of St :\Iary's, Lancaster, by James Williamson, Esq., J.P., D.L., H igh Sheriff of the County,. 1885. John Allen, D.D., Vicar; William Thomas Sharp, B.A., John Hatch, Churchwardens. A description of the clock and chimes appeared in the Lancaster Observer at the time of their inauguration. It was stated that~ The full quarters are chimed on eight bells by means of 80 steel cams bolted down to an independent chime barrel. These cams lift and discharge at the proper interval eighr levers which are connected by means of a network of levers and wires fixed to the ceiling of the clock room, to the hammers fixed to the different bells. The chime barrel is arranged so thar the changes can be altered at any time, without interfering or alrering the clock in any way, but this, it is considered, would be a mistake, as, if the changes are constantly altered, the public would never know the time. In order that the quarter changes may be understood, we give them as follows : 11t Quarter 2 . J 4 5 6 7 8 2nd Quarter 3 2 4 5 7 6 8 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 Jrd Quarter 2 3 4 6 5 7 8 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 4 3 2 5 6 7 8 4th Quarter 5 3 2 4 7 6 8 6 5 7 3 2 4 8 7 5 6 8 3 2 4 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 , Hour 8 8 8 The Rev. Dr. Allen was Vicar of Lancaster from 1871 to 1893. He died in 1907. It was largely owing to him that the new bells and clock were provided. He drew attention to the bad condition of the old bells at a special vestry meeting in the autumn of 1883, when it was agreed th_at a competent person should examine the bells and 16-t THE ClilJRCll BELLS OF LISC.I S/llRE report upon them. The Vicar declined to open a sub scription list for recasting the bells, expressing himself as follows: "It would be a nobler thing for some wealthy citizen of Lancaster to devote £1,000 of his money for' providing a really fine peal of bells and clock for the tower of one of our most venerable parish churches, standing in an almost unrivalled position, for its music to be heard over a vast extent of country." LANCASTER. ST. JOHN. Two bells. 1. I WAS BOUGHT BY SUBSCRIPTION A (bell) R 17 4 7. (33 in. diam.). 2. C. & G. MEARS FOUNDERS LONDON. On waist: RECAST BY PUBLIC SUBSCIUPTION REVD I. TURNER l\l.A. VICAI{ ABRAHAl\I SEW ARD CHURCHWARDEN 1846. (36 in. diam.). Hung without wheels in wooden framework on the west side of west tower. Cannons and wooden head-. stocks. No. 1 is chimed by a lever. No. 2 has a lever, but the rope is attached to the clapper. There is a stair to the first floor of the tower and from there a ladder to the bells. A clock, presented by Miss Baldwin, of Lancaster, in 1886, strikes the hours on No. 2. These bells are the treble and fourth of the ~ld ring of eight at the Parish Church (q.v.), and wenypurchased from :\fessrs. Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, the founders of the new bells, in 1886. Together they weigh 15 cwt. 1 qr. 14 lbs. The first is by Abel Rudhall, of Gloucester, and is one of the two bells added in 1747 to the ring of six cast in 1744. The inscription space is made out with floral ornament. The Rev. Joseph Turner, 1\1.A., "··as Vicar 6£ Lancaster from 1844 till his THE CHURCII BELLS OF L!SC1ISHIRE 165 death in I 8j r. The bells were first rung for service at St. John's on Sunday, July 11, 1886. . St. John's Church was built in 1754 and consecrated in 1755, but the tower was not added till 1784. It was a chapel of ease to the parish church until 1842, when a parish was assigned to it. LANCASTER. ST. ANNE. One bell. The church of St. Anne was built by Act of Parliament in 1795 and consecrated in the following year. It is a plain building with a round-arched bell-cote on the west gable, inaccessible except by a long ladder from the street. The bell is small and is described by the Vicar as " like a factory bell." It !s rung from the west gallery, and may be the same age as the church. In 1921 the verger told me he had rung the bell for forty-seven years; it was last attended to about 1916 ("five years ago"), but he did not ·remember any inscription. A parish was assigned to St. Anne's in 1842. LANCASTER. RIPLEY HosPITAL. One bell. 1. PEACE & GOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD A (bell) R 17 44· (34J in. diam.) Hung dead in turret on ridge of roof of chapel and struck by clapper pull~d from belo\'.-. This is the third bell of the old ring of eight formerly at the parish church (q.v.) and was purchased from Messrs. Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, the founders of the new bells, in 1886. The chapel was then building and was opened in 1888. The weight of the bell is 8 cwt. 3 qrs. It is the first of the ring of six cast by Abel Rudhall for St. Mary's in 1744, to which two trebles were added three years later. The inscription space is made out by a border of upright cresting, or fieurs-de-lys. The cannons are cabled. 166 THE CHlJ RCEI BELI.S OF L.lSC.l SHIRE The bell has, in its present position, ah\·ays been " clocked," but some three or four weeks prior to my visit on ~larc h 25 , 1922, the clapper had fallen out, and had bee n temporarily fixed so as to strike the bell from outside on the rim. The result had been, in that short space of time, to break a piece of metal from the rim, and the attention of those in charge being drawn to this, the danger to the bell \ms realised and a change in the method of sounding promised. The Ripley Hospital is an orphanage founded in 1853 by the wido\Y of Thomas Ripley, and opened in 186+ LECK. St. PETER. Five bells. A ring of five bells re-cast in 1914 by John Taylor and Co. of Loughborough, whose circular trade-mark is on the waist of each. The bands round the shoulder enclose a vine pattern instead of an inscription. The diameters are as follows:- 1. 28! in. 3. 33 in. 5. 41 in. 2. 31 in. 4. 36} in. In addition to the trade-mark each bell has on the waist an inscription in Gothic lettering together with the words RECAST 1914. The inscriptions are :- I. PRESENTED BY w. T. WEARING I 7 l\IARCH 1889. 2. PRESENTED BY R. R. P. WEARING I ON HIS CO.MING OF AGE I 7 l\U.RCH 1889. 3. PRESENTED BY l\IISS 1\1. I. R. PARKE I 1879 .. 4· PRESENTED TO LECK CHURCH I BY l\IRS A. H. WEARING I IN l\IEi\IOllY OF HEI{ FATHER I THE ~ATE .. ROWLAND PARKE 11879. 5· PRESE!'i'TED TO LECK CHURCH I BY R. WEARING I 1879. Leck was originally a chapel-of-ease of the parish of Tunstall. It existed in the seventeenth century and was THE CIIURCH BELLS OF L ,1NC,ISIIIRE 167 rebuilt in 1744. The eighteenth century building had a bell-cote on the west gable, but no record has been kept of the single bell. The old chapel was replaced by a new church in 1879, for which three bells were cast with inscriptions as above. To these two trebles were added in 1889. On October 13, 1913, the church was totally destroyed by fire and the bells so injured that they had all to be recast. The old inscriptions were retained. They are hung in an iron frame in west tower, and are rung from the floor of the church. There is also a chiming apparatus, which, at the period of my visit (l\fay, 1921 ), was alone used-owing to the impossibility of obtaining ringers. The bells are without cannons, being bolted to cast-iron headstocks. Before 1913 the bells hung in a wooden frame. There is no pit fo'r a sixth. LITTLEDALE. ST. ANNE. One bell. 1. Blank. (13 in. diam.) Hung without wheel in stone bell-cote· over west gable. Six moulded cannons, wooden headstock. Chimed from outside by lever. Double band round shoulder, but no maker's name or inscription. It is a well cast bell and is apparently of eighteenth century date, most likely coeval with the chapel, which was built in 1752. The clapper is now suspended from a staple bolted to the crown. The chapel, and consequently the bell, is used only infrequently. It was built by the inhabitants "owing to their distance from Caton chapel," and was consecrated in 1755. It is still served from Caton. MELLING. St. Wilfrid. Six bells. I. GIVEN BY FRANCIS CHARTERIS IN° FEM EICK HEN : MARSDEN : I ESQas: THO: CRAVEN GENT: & OTHERS A (bell) R 1754, (28! in. diam.) 168 THE CHURCH BELLS OF L.-1.XC.ISIIIRE 2. MAY THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND FLOURISH A (bell) R 1753. (29t in. diam.) 3. PEACE AND GOOD N EICH BOU RHOOD A (bell) R 1753. (30 in. diam.) 4· PROSPERITY TO THIS PARISH A (bell) R 1753. (32 in. diam.) 5. ROBT: l:.AWSON HENRY REMINGTON IN° HOWSON CHRISTOPHER BATESON ; I CH: WARDENS 1753· (35 in.diam.) ,6. I TO THE CHURCH THE LIVING CALL & TO THE GRAVE DO SUMMON ALL 1753. (38 in. diam.) Hung in wooden frame in west tmver and rung from a gallery open to the church under tower arch. Clock strikes hours on tenor. The bells have been rehung comparatively recently and the wheels are new. A ring by Abel Rudhall, of Gloucester, the first" four bearing his initials. The cannons of the first and second have been removed : those of the third and fifth are plaited. The inscription space on the fourth is made out with a border of cresting, and on the first and third with running ornament. On the fifth the 'Yords "Ch : wardens i753 " break the lower band. The name " Femeick " on the treble is an error for Fenwick. Francis Charteris, of Hornby Castle (in this parish), was the same whose name occurs on the fifth bell at Hornby (q.v.). Henry Marsden was lord of the m.~nor of \Vennington (in this parish). The second Henry .Marsden of Wennington died in this year (1753) and the third succeeded. There were formerly three bells at Melling, said to have been of pre-Reformation date. Canon Grenside THE CHURCH BELLS OF L,II'\C,1SIIIRE 169 (vicar 1855-1913) some years ago furnished me with the follo,ving note : - The three pre-Reformation bells were shipped to Gloucester in 1753. The churchwardens' accounts note on June 2nd, 1i'53 Spent when the Bells were thrown out of the Steeple 4s. 6d. and on June 3rd Spent at l\Ielling when the Bells were loaded 2s. od. In the summer of 17~4 they were completed and hung . . . ~ A query in the Manchester ·weekly Times, November 16, 1889, regarding the ringing of the Curfew at Melling, elicited the following reply from Canon Grenside :- Your correspondent's inquiries about the Curfew bell in Jlelling require a little explanation and correction. The curfew was no ancient -.fftst-itW:ioR ·-in {he· Yillage. lt dated .on.ly ...fr-0m MORECAMBE. HOLY TRINITY. Six bells. 1-5 Blank. 6. On waist: THESE BELLS ARE PLACED I IN THIS TOWER I TO THE GLORY OF GOD 1 Mane. Weekly Times, Nov. 23, 1889. 170 THE CJIURCII BELLS OF L.ISC.ISTIIRJ.: I BY THE YOUNG MEN'S CLASS I AUGUST 1897 I C. V. GORTON RECTOR I JOHN LEE i WILLIAM BROWN . CHURCHWARDENS. Otlzcr side of waist: "CHARLES CARR" l SMETHWICK I MADE US ALL I 1897. (36 in. diam.) Hung in wooden and iron frame in west tower, four at one level and two above. Cannons and wooden head stocks. A ring by Charles Carr, of Smethwick, the treble 25 in. diam. Rung from chamber on first floor, opening from west gallery. From here access to the bells is by portable ladder. Two of the bells are chimed from the tower porch. On January 22, 1901, in memory of Queen Victoria, the ringers rang two muffled peals of 720 changes, viz. plain bob minor and grandsire minor. The church was first built in 1745, rebuilt in 1841 in the Gothic style of the period, and enlarged in 1897. The tower dates from l84r. OVER KELLET. ST. CUTHBERT. Three bells. 1. IESVS BE OVR SPEED 1664. (27 in. diam.) 2. Sancte petre ora pro nobts. (28-l in. diam:) 3. T. MEARS OF LONDON FECIT 1824. . (33 in. diam.} Hung in wooden frame in west tower, from east to west. FIRST. The first bell has, after the inscription a shield with a chevron between three bells impaling three laver pots,1 which is a trade mark belonging to the foundry at 1. The impaled shield s:.g_~ests the joint business of bellfounder and' brazier: see !'forth, Ch. Bells of Lincol11shire, 136. The ~hif'ld is figuredi on plate xxiv, fig. 166. THE CHURCH BELLS OF L 1L\'CJSllIHE 17r York which after about 1650 was in the hands of vVilliam Cuerdon and Abraham Smith.1 The latter is believed to have died in 1662, and was succeeded by Samuel Smith, whose initials occur, \vith those of Cuerdon, on bells cast as late as 1676. There was also a James Smith, whose initials, with those of Abraham and of vVilliam Cuerdon are on a bell dated 1656. But little .is known of him. The Over Keller bell has no initials, and it is therefore impossible to say whether it is the joint work of Cuerdon and Smith, or of one of them only. Cuerdon migrated to Doncaster, probably soon after Abraham Smith's death, but in what year is uncertain, but he seems to have worked in conjunction with Samuel Smith at least till i676. The bell may, however, with certainty be ascribed to the York foundry, and is probably ope of Samuel Smith's early casting before he began to use the "S.S. Ebor" stamp.2 Between the words of the inscription are ornamental stamps with reversed fieur-de-lys cresting, in the last of which (after the date) the shield occurs. It is consequently very small, being only 1} in. high. SECOND. The second bell is of pre-Reformation date, but bears no maker's initials_ or mark. It may be of fifteenth century date, but more likely it belong to the early part of the sixteenth century, cast perhaps about the same time as those at Halton (q.v.). Each letter of the inscription is on a separate stamp. THIRD. The tenor is by Thomas Mears II, of White chapel. The inscription space is made out with his well known " Whitechapel pattern " border, or chain of loops and· lozenges. OVERTON. One bell. 1. W. BLEWS AND SONS BIRMINGHAM. t. For Cuerdon and Smith see Walters, l'.C.H. Yorks., ii, 452. 2. There are bells by the second Samuel Smith at Bolton-le-Sands, Tunstall, and \Varton, all in this district. 1;2 TllE CHURCH BELLS OF LIXC.ISHIRE On ' Hung in bell-cote over \Vest gable, without wheel, and chimed by lever from floor of church. Iron bar in place of headstock. The inscription is in the half Gothic type favoured by l\lessrs. Blews, similar to that on the bell at "'\Vhitechapel (q.v.).1 The old bell, displaced in 1878, is now at the school in the village, where it hangs clapperless, suspended from ·an -iron bratl:et against the wall about rn ft. or 12 ft. from the ground. It is 19! in. in diameter, and is by Ralph •.\shton, of \Vigan, 1707. One of the six cannons is broken off. Round the shoulder instead of an inscrip tion ·is a border of birds and beasts alternating with a series of six small rectangular stamps now difficult to defipher,2 the whole surface of the bell having been at some time covered \vith paint and the sharpness of the ornament destroyed. The birds and beasts are cast on the bell and are seven in number, the total number of figures being thus thirteen. Immediately below the band is Ashton's mark-a shield with a bell betw~en the initials R.A., together with place and date:- Wigan u 1707 The ornament of this bell is quite unlike that on any other of Ashton's in the county. , Overton was a chapel in the parish of Lancaster. The church is partly of twelfth century date and has a good Norman doorway. 1. Transactions, xxxviii, 106. . 2. App~rently smaller birds and beasts of type. similar to the others. THE CHURCII BELLS OF L.tJ.NC11SIIIUE 173 SILVERDALE ST. JOHN. Six bells. t-6. CAST BY JOHN WARNER & SONS LONDON 1886. The tenor has in addition on the waist the following inscription :- FOR THE HONOUR OF GOD AND THE USE OF THIS CHURCH THESE BELLS WERE R.AISED BY HENRY BODDINGTON, OF SILVERDALE . A.O. 1886. Hung in wooden frame in west tower. Rectangular cannons, wooden headstocks. Rung from chamber on first floor, access tO which is by circular stone staircase : from ringing chamber to bells by ladder. A ring by Warner and Sons cast for the new church. The weight of the tenor is given as 12j cwt. The diameters are as follows: (1) 29 in.; (2) 31 in.; (3) 34 in.;. (4) 35 in.; (5) 37-l in.; (6) 41-l in. The foundation stone of the church was laid Sept. 15~ 1884, and the building was consecrated July 14, 1886. The bells, however, were not placed in the tower till the following December, and were dedicated on Friday, March 25, 1887. In the meanwhile the donor, Mr. Henry Boddington, had died (Aug. 19, 1886). A team of ringers. was formed and practice begun some two months before the dedication of the bells. The old chapel, rebuilt in 1829, stjll stands, and has a single bell over the west gable. It was inaccessible at the time of my visit. It has a lever and wooden head stock, but no rope, and is apparently no longer used. It is probably co-eval with the chapel, but may possibly be older. 1;4 TllE CTIURCII BELLS OF Ll.YC.ISIIIRE TATHAM. ST. ],\.\!ES-THE-LESS. Three bells. 1. GEORGE BRUCE RECTOR 1771. (28! in. diam.) 2. }. TAYLOR & C° FOUNDERS LOUGH- BOROUGH 1887. (31! in. diam.) 3. J. TAYLOR & co BELLFOUNDERS LOUGH- BOROUGH 1887- (36 in. diam.) Hung in wooden frame, strengthened with iron, in west tower. The first has no maker's mark or initials and may be of local origin. Its cannons have been removed and it is now bolted through the crown to a wooden ·headstock. Taylor's ·bells have cannons and wooden headstocks, and weight respectively (2) 6 cwt. 2 qrs. 7 lbs., and (3) 9 cwts. I qr. 21 lbs. Browne-\Viii is, about 1740, noted only two bells at Tatham, and according to Croston's edition of Baines's Lancashire (v, 554) there were two bells previous to 188j, TATHAM FELL. THE Goon SHEPHERD. One bell. 1. ROBERT WILKINSON WARDEN 1779· (20 in. diam.) This is the bell from the old chapel, pulled down " ·hen the present church was erected in 1888-9. It hung in a THE CHURCH JJELLS OF LANC.'1511/RE r75 bell-cote over the ''"est gable. It is now in a central tower and is hung without wheel, being chimed by a lever from the floor of the church. It has six cannons, but is without maker's mark or initials. The style of lettering is similar to that on the Tatham treble, cast eight years earlier, and both bells probably come from the same foundry. The old chapel, 'vhich was itself a rebuilding in 1840, stood slightly to the east of the present church. A cross in the churchyard marks the position of the altar. The new chur~h was consecrated June 13, 1889. The bell is rung for five minutes before divine service on Sundays. Tatham Fell was a chapelry of the parish of Tatham. TUNSTALL. ST. JOHN BAPTIST. Three bells. I. Sn :IDulceMue "ocis cantabo tuo noe. I F ESQVER ET MINISTER I B P L W G AW c WARDENS I w s! . . Below: i710. -- (35 in. diam.) 2. GLORIA IN ALTISSIMIS DEO [] 1729 [] WILL [] WITHERS []VICAR [] WIL [] FAUCIT ::: [] FRA [) JOHN FENWICK ESQUIRE IAM THOMPSON ED ::: ¥.t¥lT~r [] ?~~1t~~~ [] (39 in diam.) 3. PRAISE (bell) YOV !bell) THE (s.s. Eborl LORD O IN [] THE [] HIGHEST (s.s. Ebor) IOHN (] FENWICK U ESQ [] W n WITHERS (bell) C (bell) . . Second line : HENRY: IOHN ::: EDWARD TOWN I S.S. Ebor j TATHAM TATHAM (43 in. diam.) 1731, IS.S. Ebor I May, 192 I. Bell chamber and bells in bad state of repair. Hung in massive old wooden frame in west tower, with very large wheels. All have cannons and wooden headst_ocks. The floor of the bell-chamber is rotten in 176 THE Cl!L'RCII BELLS OF L.-ISCISl/IRE parts, and the wheel of the second bell is much decayed. The bells are no longer rung, but the first and third have ropes attached to the clappers and presumably are struck in that manner-a process which has no doubt helped to bring them to their present condition, and which, if continued, will render them past saving. There is a piece 14 in. by 3 in. broken from the rim of the tenor, while the second is cracked and is not struck-the crack extends 9 in. upward from the rim. The bells are hung from north to south, the first being at the north end. 1552 : ij bells in the steple, ij hande bells, iij sacring bells. c. 1740 Brown Willis notes three bells at Tunstall. FIRST. The first bears the \V.S. stamp found on the middle bell · at Bolton"'-le--Sands (q:v.), and is therefore presumably by \Villiam Scott, of \Vigan. The inscrip tion also is the same as on the Bolton bell, but the style of lettering is not identical. " I.F. Esquer " was John Fenwick, of Burrow Hall,1 and " E.T. Minister " was the Rev. Edmund Tatham, 11.A., vicar 16gg-1718. The initial T is incised, but all the other Roman letters are on separate stamps. There was one churchwarden for each . of the four tmvnships 'Jf the Parish. The date 1710 is below the inscription immediately under the maker's mark. Each word of the motto is on a separate stamp. The use_ of Gothic lettering at this date is not usual. SECOND. The middle bell is by Edward Seller II, of York, who 'vas casting c. 1724-64. His name E.F.~:er between two bells is on an ornamental stamp immediately below the word "Gloria." The Rev. \Villia~ Withers was vicar from 1718 till his death in 1737· His name is also on the tenor. Seller's bells are also found at I Cartmel Fell (1734), \Vhittington (1739), and Holme-in- Cliviger (1747).2 THIRD. The tenor is by Samuel Smith II, of York, 1. John Fenwick's name is on each of the other bells. 2 . Transactions, xx~iv .. 4L THE CHURCH BELLS OF L:1NCilSl1EHE in and bears his initials :Ei!; four times- twice on small shields in the main part of the inscription, before the word" Lord" and after" Highest," and again (between two bells) on ornamental stamps, 4i in. long, in the second line between the first two wardens' names and after the date. This second part of the inscription breaks a line of inverted cresting which goes round the bell immeqiately under the lower bands. · Samuel Smith cast the tenor at Warton (q:v.) in the same year. WARTON. HOLY TRINITY. Three bells. I. DALTON FECIT YO~K 1782. (35} in. diam.) . . Z._JJJmO J)RJ ..lS74 --R. -8. {39} in. -diam.) 3. MEMENTO S.S. Ebor I MO~I IS.S. Ebor I I73I Is.s. Ebor I W : A YLMER (bell) VIC Is.~. Euor j Second line : JOHN DAWSON"[) A: LUCA.S :::: CHVRCH W: WALLING :::: TBO. AT.KINSON WARDENS (44 in. diam.) Hung in old triangular wooden frame in west tower, with wheels 7 ft. 6in. diam. Cannons and wooden head stocks. The bells hang from north to south with the first at the south end. FIRST. The first is a plain bell with bands round the shoulder enclosing the usual " inscription space," but the space was cast blank and the maker's name and date afterwat'ds engraved in very small (i in.) capitals. George Dalto~was casting at York about 175c::T-91. He succeeded Edward Seller II and was the last of a long line of York bell-founders. SECOND. The middle bell, from its bearing the initials R.B. as well as from its date, is of more than usual interest. John Lucas, who ·wrote a History of vVarton between 1710 and 1743, assumed that the initials were those of Robert Bindloss, who purchased one moiety of L 1;S TliE CJJVRCJJ BEi. LS OF Ll.\"C.lSllIRE the manor of Borwick in this parish in 1567, and died in 1595. This is possible. But the occurrence of the same in~tials on other bells of this period in far distant parts renders the assumption at least open to question. The \Varton bell has already been referred to in discussing the Ormskirk tenor, on which these same initials occur with the date 1576. They also occur on a bell at \Var burton, Cheshire, dated 1575. The three sets of initials are shown together for purposes of comparison in Tran sactions, xxxii, 138. There is some resemblance between those at \Varton and Ormskirk, at any rate as regards the B, but the likeness is not very close. The \Varton letters. are the largest, being 1f in. high. The R.B. of these three bells may, or may not, be identical, but if he is he is probabiy the founder. The numerals, as will be seen from the illustration, are of early Arabic type. · THIRD. The tenor is by Samuel Smith II of York, who cast the tenor at Tunstall (q.v.) in the same year. The letters and numerals are similar to those on the Tunstall bell, and between the words (as indicated) are the 4i in. ornamental stamps with ~~~ between two bells. The names of the wardens, as at Tunstall, break a line of in_verted cresting immediately below the inscrip tion proper. The Rev. \Villiam Aylmer was vicar from 1714 to 1734. In the " History of \Varton " 1 before referred to, Lucas mentions three bells in the church, one of which was the present second. The inscription on the first was not legible and that on the third he gives as SOLi DEO GLOIUA PAX HOMINIBUS FRAN. JACKSON VICAR W. C. FECIT 1662 ROBERT BLSDLOSS, BARRONIT, GEO. l\llDDLETON ~ KNIGHT & BA!lRONIT, VICE-CO:\I. NAT. WEST ESQ. 1. The book is ' missing,' probably lost, but extracts, or copies of extracts, exist. See Transactions, ,·iii, 22-25. TIIE CHURCH BELLS OF L.li';C,15HIRE 1;9 T!tc loss of this bell is to be deplored. It appears to have been cast by \Villiam Cuerdon, of York, who has been referred to under Over. Kellet (q.v.). The inscription >vas probably not set out in the way given,1 and it is possible that the shield with bells and !aver pots would be on this bell, as on that at Over Kellet. The Rev. Francis Jackson, l\LA., was vicar from 1655 to 1670. Lucas is said to have finished his History in 1743, nearly forty years before the present treble was cast, but he must have written his account of the bells before 1731, the date -0f the present tenor. WHITTINGTON. ST. MICHAEL. Six bells. 1. J: TAYLOR & co FOUNDERS LOUGH BOROUGH 1875. On waist: THE GIFT OF l\IANY FitIENDS IN LOVING MEl\IOltY OF THOMAS GitEENE 1875 (28! in. diam.) ~- J: TAYLOR & co FOUNDERS LOUGH BOROUGH 1875. On w·aist: TO THE GLOitY OF GOO IN LOVING l\IEl\IO~Y OF THOl\IAS GltEENE 1815 . (30 in. diam.) .3· J: TAYLOR & co FOUNDERS LOUGH BOROUGH 1875, On waist: TO THE GLOitY OF GOD THE GIFT OF ItOBEitT umrnow OF WltA YTON AND FAMILY 1815. (33! in. diam.) 1. Taken from an article by W. O. Roper, F.S.A., in Trans, Hist. Soc. Lanes. and Ches. (1886), N.S. ii, I6i. 180 THE CHL'RCII BELLS OF L.ISC.lS!/IRE 4. PROSPERITY TO THIS PARISH A (bell) R 1754. (36 in. diam.) 5. J: TAYLOR & co BELLFOUNDERS LOUGH BOROUGH 1875. On waist: FOUNDED 1673. QECAST 1875 (39 in. diam.) 6. GLORIA IN ALTISSIMIS DEO 1739 GEO HORN BY RECTOR.[]:~~[] grrg~IGGE [] ~\V'D [] MARGISO:S [] CHURCH BLACKBURX WARDEXS I, E. Seller, Ebor I (41! in. diam.) Hung in wooden frame in west tower, and rung from .fl-00r of church. \Yooden headstocks. Taylor's bells have plain cannons,' those to No. 4 are plaited. The cannons of the tenor have been removed. The first and second bells and a clock were given in memory of Thomas Greene, of \Vhittington Hall, in 1875. The hours are struck on the tenor. 1552 : thre small bells latelie boght of the Kyngs maiestie, two hand bells. c. 1740. Browne Willis notes three bells at Whittington. Before 1875 there were only three bells. In that year three new trebles were added, their \veights being (1) 4 cwts. 3 qrs. 6 lbs., (2) 5 cwts; 2 qrs. 10 lbs., and (3) 7 cwts. 1 qr. 6 lbs. The old second was recast at the same time as the fifth of the new ring; the old bell weighed 9 cwts. 2 qrs. o lbs., and the recast bell 1 i cwts. o qr. 19 lbs.1 The three noted by Browne \Villis would Include the tenor and the old second dated 1673, recast as the fifth. The present fourth is by Abel Rudhall, of Gloucester: the inscription is between single bands and the space is. made out )Vith a border of upright cresting. 1. Information from :\lessrs. Taylor and Co. Unfortunately no record: nf its in scription, etc., has been preserved. THE CHURCJI BELLS OF LISCJS JIIRE 181 The tenor is by Edward Seller II of York, and bears his name EEtt~er between two bells on a long stamp at the end of the inscription. He had cast the middle bell at Tunstall (q.v.) just ten years before. There are ornamental stamps between the words of the rnotto, and the diagonal of the ~ is reversed. " E,,-d " is an error for Edw. (Blackburn). The Rev. George Hornby, M.A., was rector from September, 1716, till his death in 1748. He built the present Parsonage house in 1728. WYRESDALE. CHRIST CHURCH. One bell. 1. THOS HARRISON CH: WARDEN A Chell) R .1744. {24in. -diam.) ' · Hung in wooden frame in west to\\·er, with half wheel. The cannons have been removed and the bell is now bolted through the crown to a wooden headstock. By Abel Rudhall, of Gloucester. The inscription space is made out with a running border. Chimed from floor of church, and access by ladder. Wyresdale was a chapelry of Lancaster. The church was rebuilt in - I 733, " ·hen a tower was added, but has since been remodelled. Thomas Harrison was one of the nine churchwardens of Lancaster who represented the like number of townships, or groups of townships. He was warden for Wyresdale 1743-4. His name occurred; with others, on the tenor of the former ring at the pai:ish church (q:v.) cast in the same year. The late Mr. W. 0. Roper gave the date of the \Vyres dale bell in error as 177+1 J. Trans. Hist. Soc. Lanes. and Chesh., N.S ..19 -20, pp. 71-72, from where it has been copied ihto the V.C.H. Lanes., viii, 78. 76 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. BY F. H. CHEETHAM, F.S.A. PART V (continued). SECTION II. NOR TH LONSDALE. LONSDALE NORTH OF THE SANDS comprises the ancient parishes of Aldingham, Cartmel, Dalton, 1 Kirkby Ireleth, Pennington, Ulverston, and U rswick. The whole falls naturally into two well-defined portions-the districts of Cartmel and Furness, each marked by conspicuous physical features. Furness again is divided into High and Low, or Plain Furness, the latter consisting of the comparatively flat land between the estuaries of the Duddon and the Leven. High Furness, or Furness Fells, comprises the northern most part of the Hundred of Lonsdale, bordering on Cumberland and Westmorland, and is entirely moun tainous. Ecclesiastically the whole of North Lonsdale is in the Diocese of Carlisle, having been separated from Chester in 1847, and comprises parts of the Archdeacon ries of Furness and W estmorland.2 There were forty five parishes in North Lonsdale in 1921. 1. Hawkshead and Colton did not become separate parishes till after the Reformation. 2. Hawkshead and Satterthwaite are in the Archdeaconry of Westmor land-rural deanery of Ambleside. The Lancashire portion of the Archdeaconry of Furness comprises the rural deaneries of Cartmel, Dalton, and Ulverston. Seathwaite, however, is attached to the rural deanery of Gosforth (Cumberland). THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 77 The known pre-Reformation chapels are represented by the following churches :-Broughton-in-Furness, Cartmel Fell, Colton, 1 Flookburgh, Hawkshead,2 Ire leth, Lowick, Rampside, Seathwaite, Tarver, Walney, and Woodland. Other chapels of early, but doubtful origin were-Blawith, Coniston, Egton-with-Newland, Lindale, Satterthwaite, and Staveley. Finsthwaite dates from 1724 and Rusland from 1745, but both chapels have been rebuilt. As regards the Inventories of 1552 in North Lonsdale only five returns have come to light-Aldingham, Dalton, Kirkby lreleth, Ulverston, and U rswick. They are all dated September 19, 1552.3 As already stated,4 some of the bells of the Furness district were described nearly a quarter of a century ago by the late Mr. Harper Gaythorpe, F .S.A. (Scot)5 but the plan of these papers makes it necessary to repeat in a large measure what has already been recorded. Some changes, however, have been made in at least two of the towers dealt with by Mr. Gaythorpe. There are five medi~val bells still surviving in North Lonsdale and two others are known to have been in existence in comparatively recent times. Of the five existing bells two are at Aldingham, and the other three at Broughton, Colton, and U rswick. Of these the Broughton and Colton bells may be of fourteenth century 1. Colton was formed out of Hawkshead parish in 1676. 2. Hawkshead was detached from Dalton in 1578. 3. They are printed in Chetham Soc., New Series, vol. 47. 4. Transactions, xxxix, 125. 5. See Furness Lore, 1900, for Aldingham (p. 114) and Urswick (p. 100): aiso " Church Bells in the Archdeaconry of Fumess " in Trans. Cumb. and West. Ant. and Arch Soc. (1902), New Series, ii, 282-306. The latter paper deals with bells at Broughton-in-Furness, Colton, Kirkby Ireleth, Seathwaite and Woodland. There are also brief notes in the Pro. of the Barrow Nat. Field Club on some of the bells in the district. I have already expressed my thanks to Mr. S. B. Gaythorpe for permission to make use of his father's printed works (Trans., xxxix, 126). 78 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. date, U rswick is fifteenth century, and those at Alding ham are by a founder who flourished at i:he close of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth cent1:1ry. The two recorded bells which have disappeared were at Dalton and Kirkby Ireleth respectively. There are no dated bells of the Transitional or Middle Period (1550-1600) in North Lonsdale, but four bells of seventeenth century date still remain. Two of these at Cartmel (1661) are by J. Scott of Wigan, and another by an unknown founder is at Pennington (1685). A small bell dated 1604 is preserved in the modern mansion of Conishead Priory, but it is not hung. The number of dated eighteenth century bells still in use (including two recast but retaining old inscriptions and dates) is only twenty. These comprise a ring of six at Hawkshead, two at Cartmel, two at Urswick, and single bells in ten other churches. The oldest of these are the treble at Aldingham and the second at U rswick, both dated 1711, and next in order come Pennington treble (1719), U rswick treble (1724, recast), two at Cart mel (1726, 1729), Tarver (1730), Cartmel Fell (1734), Satterthwaite (1737), Rampside (1739), Woodland (1744), Broughton Tower (1747), Rusland (1752), Hawkshead (six 1765, one recast), and Grange (1772). The undated and blank bell at Blawith is almost certainly that obtained in 1782. Of the above twenty bells that at Pennington is by Ralph Ashton of Wigan, and those at Rampside, Urs wick (recast), and Woodland by his successor Luke Ashton. There was also formerly a bell at Lowick by Ralph Ashton, dated 1716. The treble at Cartmel Fell is by Edward Seller of York, and the bell at Broughton To·wer, though bearing no maker's name or mark, is apparently also from a York foundry. The two Cart mel bells (treble and second) and the single bell at Satterthwaite are by Evans of Chepstow, and the ring of six at Hawkshead by James Harrison, of Barrow in l'HE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 7D Lincolnshire. Rudhall of Gloucester apparently cast few bells for this part of the county. The Aldingham treble is his, and probably also the U rswick second, but the latter has no maker's name or initials. These two are the only examples of Rudhall's work which I have found in North Lonsdale. Of nineteenth century bells tfie oldest is the anonymous single bell at Dendron dated 1810, and next in order of date the bell at Lindale cast by Thomas Mears II in 1828. Of the original ring of five cast by William Dob_son for Kirkby Ireleth in 1831 four are still in use, and ·one has been recast. The ring of six at Ulverston was cast by Thomas Mears II, of Whitechapel, in 1836, and the same firm (then C. and G. Mears) cast a single bell for Finsthwaite in 1856. The Broughton tenor (1869) is by John 1Warner & Son, of London, and the same firm cast a ring of six for Dalton in 1866 (recast and increased to eight in 1913). Messrs. John Taylor and Co., of Loughboroug h, cast tfie second at Blawith (1866), Seathwaite (1881), Field Broughton (1894), seven for Broughton-in-Furness (1900), a ring of four for Flookburgh (1900), Tarver (1908), Kirkby Ireleth treble (1908), and two clock bells for Finsthwaite (1920). They also recast the U rswick treble in 1907, and the old fourth at Kirkby in 1908. There are blank bells at Blawith, 1 Cartmel Fell (second), Coniston (two), Egton, Field Broughton (at the Vicarage), and Staveley-in-Cartmel. The dated bells at Dendron, Rusland, and Tarver are without maker's name or initials, but that at Tarver (now at the schoolhouse) is from a Dublin foundry. Messrs. Vickers' patent cast-steel bells are to be found at Lowick (three), Ireleth, and Walney. Finsthwaite possesses a set of tubular " bells." The above summary deals with seventy-seven bells in thirty churches, and five bells belonging to churches 1. Already noted as probably 1782. 80 THE CHURCH BELLS OF L.4NC'i1SHIRE. now in other places.1 The only rings of eight are those at Broughton and Dalton, but there are rings of six at Hawkshead, Kirkby Ireleth, and Ulverston ; of four at Cartmel and Flookburgh ; and of three at Aldingham, Lowick, and U rswick. Blawith, Cartmel Fell, Coniston, and Pennington have each two bells, and the reqrnining churches one bell only. In twenty-three cases the bells hang in towers, in three cases in small turrets, and in three others in bell-cotes accessible only by ladder from the outside. Of the towers, eight only have permanent staircases, in four there is a combination of wooden stairs and ladder, but in eleven of the towers access to the bells can be obtained oy ladders only, very few of which are fixed. A bell by T. Rafanelli of Pistoia is in private posses sion at " Millwood," a residence near Barrow-in Furness. ALDINGHAM. ST. CUTHBERT. Three bells. 1. GOD SAUE QUEEN ANN A. R. (bell) 1711. (30 in. diam.) 2. + s + s + s (32 in. diam.) 2. 1. Broughton (two), Conishead Priory, Field Broughton Vicarage, Tarver School. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIR/i. Sl by a woo I. Trans. Gumb. and West. Ant. and Arch Soc., xiv, 283; Furness Lore, p. 102. See also Urswick (second bell). 82 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. on many bells, three on some, and four on others."1 The meaning of the recurring S is usually believed to be " Sanctus," but this is by no means certain. When the letter occurs three times, as at Aldingham, it is not unnatural to suppose a reference to the Tersanctus, but to suggest that this was a '' pre-Reformation Sanctus Bell, " 2 is to lose sight of the fact that it is one of a type to which such a description would not uniformly apply .3 The space between the crosses and the S's is about 8 in.4 The first S is accompanied by a Rose5 (above) and a Shield (below), similar in every way to the like marks on other bells of the same type. The character of both Rose and Shield, which also occur on the tenor, will best be understood from the accompanying facsimile.6 The Shield is ll in. in height and bears a cross patee, the base of the stem diviaed chevron-wise, between the initial R (dexter) and a bell (sinister), each surmounted by a crown. These two marks (the Rose and Shield) are known to have belonged to the Nottingham founders at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century, and North had therefore no hesitation in assigning to all the S S bells a Nottingham origin.' The early history of the Nottingham foundry has not yet, however, been properly worked out, but there is reason to believe that the R shield belongs to Richard Mellor, or Mellour, who was casting in Nottingham about 1. T . North, Ch. Bells of Lincolnshfre, p. 118. 2. Mr. Harper Gaythorpe in Furness Lore, p. 115. 3. Its size also is against its having been a Sanctus Bell. Of course one of the ordinary bells in the tower was sometimes tolled at the Sanctus, when no separate " sanctus bell " existed, but in such a case the bell was not properly a Sanctus Bell and would not be regarded as such. 4. In two cases 7! in. and 10 in. respectively, in the others 8 in. 5. The Rose stamp in conjunction with a figure of St. Andrew occurs on the tenor at Bolton-le-Sands (see Trans., xxxix, 136). 6. They are given in North's Lincolnshire, figs. 107 and 127. See also Ellacombe, Bells of the Church, p. 326. 7. North, Lines., p. 119. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 83 1488-1508, and was also used by his son Robert (1510-25). 1 In any case the Aldingham bell may be assumed to belong to this period (1488-1525). The height of the bell, exclusive of the cannons, is 27 in. The cannons are plain, and Si in. high. TENOR. The tenor is from the same foundry as the second bell and may have been cast at the same time. The Rose and the R Shield occur above and below the inscription bands as on the second bell, between the beginning and end of the inscription. The lieight of the bell is 27 in., and the cannons are similar to those of the second. The inscription is one that occurs elsewhere in con junction with the Nottingham rose and shield (either singly or in conjunction) notably in Lincolnshire.2 What has been said about the probable origin of the second bell applies also to the tenor. I see no reason for not supposing that this is the '' great bell '' of the Edwardian Inventory. The notes of the three bells are given as (1) D, (2) C, (3) B flat.3 The following Ringing Customs were recorded by Mr. Gaythorpe in 1900 :- When the sexton receives an intimation of a death and funeral, he tolls three strokes on each bell for a male (child or adult), and two strokes for a female (woman or child), followed afterwards by seven strokes on the third bell. The bells are also rung on special occasions, viz :-The Queen's [Victoria] birthday, Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, and frequently at weddings. No record exists in the memory of the oldest inhabitant of any bell rung at either 8 or 9 o'clock on Sunday morning.4 1. Richard Mellor was Mayor of Nottingham in 1499 and again in 1506. He died before 1509. Robert also held office as Mayor. 2. North, Ch. Bells of Lincolnshire. 3. Furness Lore, p. 116. " Taken from the organ by Miss Coward, of Colt Park." 4. Furness Lore, p. 117. 84 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. BLAWITH. ST. JORN-THE-BAPTIST. Two bells. 1. Blank. (17! in. diam.) 2. J: TAYLOR & C? LOUGHBOROUGH 1866. (21! in. diam.) Hung in double bell-cote over west gable, the smaller on the north side. Chimed by levers from floor of church: wooden headstocks. The openings of the bell cote are 20l in. wide: the stonework on either side of the south opening has therefore had to be in part cut away in order to allow the larger bell to swing. There is a wheel remaining in the north opening, but it is not used. Access only by ladder from outside. The church dates from 1862-3, and is on a new site. The remains of the old church, which had a west tower, are some distance to the south-west, on higher ground. Blawith was a chapelry of Ulverston. The smaller bell belonged to the old church, and is probably the one mentioned in the chapel books as having been purchased in 1782. Mr. A. P. Brydson thus tells the story of how the bell was bought:- On May 30th, 1781, a meeting of the vestrymen, officers and inhabitants of the chapelry was called, when it was agreed that a new steeple 10 yards high, to hold a bell, should be erected from the ground . . . and it was further agreed that Blea Brow be sold in public to pay part of the expenses as formerly designed.... On March 2nd, 1782, Blea Brows was put up for public auction ... and it was declared it was for James Taylor, of Water End, who thus became the absolute purchm•erl ... The bell which was thus purchased still hangs in the bell turret of the present church, the smaller of the two now there. 1. " Blea Brows, that well-known and beautiful pi,ece of rock, wood, and heathery ground, jutting into Coniston Lake, opposite to Water Park. "-Brydson. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 85 The following contemporary effusion epitomises many things: Blawith poor people, An auld church and new steeple, As poor as hell, They had to sell A bit of fell To buy a bell, Blawith poor people. I The bell has no date or inscription-merely a single band below the crown, and the usual three bands above the sound bow. The second bell was purchased some three years after the erection of the new church. The inscription space after the date is completed by a stamp 5 in. long, with running floral pattern. BROUGHTON-IN-FURNESS. ST. MARY MAGDALENE. Eight bells. 1. TO THE GLORY OF GOD On waist: AND AS A THANK OFFERING TO HIM FOR RECOVERED HEALTH THIS BELL IS PRESENTED TO S~ MARY MAGDALENE'S CHURCH BY E. HAYNES 1900. (25 in. diam.) 2. PRESENTED BY JOHN CLARK + CHURCH- WARDEN 1900 + (26 in. diam.) 3. • JOHN TAYLOR & C0 * LOUGHBOROUGH * LEICESTERSHIRE * 1900 On waist: S1: MARY MAGDALENE BROUGHTON·IN·FURNESS. ---~-·--- ·-~------1. Some Records of Two Lalieland Townships, by A. P. Brydson, pp. 114-115. 86 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. Other side of waist: MY LIPS SHALL PRAISE THEE JOHN GARNER GA VE ME WHEN HE WAS CHURCHWAQDEN HERE IN THE NINETEENTH HUNDREDTH YEAR. (27-! in. diam.) 4. + TE DEUM LAUDAMUS + (30 in. diam.) 5. AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM + On waist: IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM HENRY CROSS DIED 1892. (31t in. diam.) 6. * PRESENTED BY T. BUTLER * (33-! in. diam.) 7. * VENITE EXULTEMUS DOMINO * (36-! in. diam.) 8. CAST BY JOHN WARNER & SONS LONDON 1869 On waist: (Royal Arms) PATENT (40 in. diam.) Hung in timber frame in south-west tower and rung from chamber on first floor. Iron headstocks. Clock chimes quarters and strikes hours on tenor. Ellacombe's chiming apparatus. There is a stairway to the ringing chamber and bells. The bell-chamber is exceptionally clean and is well lighted from the roof. In addition to the inscriptions recorded above, the treble, second, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh bells have each a vine border below the inscription band and on the waist the circular trade-mark of JOHN TAYLOR AND co., LOUGHBOROUGH, surmounted by the Agnus Dei. On the fifth, sixth, and seventh the date 1900 occurs below the trade-mark. The fourth bell was given by Miss Myers; the fifth is in memory of the eldest son of the first Viscount Cross, who predeceased his father; and the seventh was paid for by subscription. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 87 The present tower was built in 1900, and dedicated (with the bells) by the Bishop of Carlisle on May 27, 1901. The bells were first rung for Sunday worship on December 8, 1901, and on December 11 the formal " opening " by the Dalton ringers took place. Broughton was a chapelry of Kirkby Ireleth, and from the fact that in 1552 " five bells" occur in the Kirkby inventory it has sometimes been assumed that one of these belonged to the chapel at Broughton and another to Seathwaite.1 This may have been so, but it is not certain. It is unlikely, however, that there was more than one bell at Broughton in 1552, and that bell happily still survives. Mr. Gaythorpe refers to some stones which are believed to have been part of a bell turret with a single opening 3 ft. wide,2 but however that may be, it would appear that some time before the middle of the eighteenth century there were two bells, for in 1754 John Askew, of Moss Side, agreed with the chapelwardens of Broughton to provide good and sufficient Bell ropes for the said chapel and one Bell Rope for Kirkby and deliver the same as often as is neces sary in the r.espective churchyards at four shillings and threepence yearly during the said his Life Time he having the old Bell ropes.3 In June, 1762, John Ormandy was given a gratuity of thirteen shillings '' for being an assistant to the Clerk of Broughton in ringing the Bells (he being unable)."4 And although the number of the bells is not stated there is no reason to suppose that there were more than two. Previous to 1782 these bells hung in a turret, or bell cote, over the west gable, but in that year a tower was 1. See infra p. 123. Mr. Gaythorpe in his account of Broughton bells in Trans. Gumb. and West. Ant. and Arch. Soc., N.S., ii, 295-301, says there was " one bell " in 1552. I am indebted to Mr. Gaythorpe's paper for most of what follows. 2. H. Gaythorpe, op. cit., p. 296. 3. Ibid, 295, where the agreement is cited in full. This agreement was endorsed in June 1769 by one John High who promised to perform the duties during his life. 4. Ibid, 296. 88 THE CHURCH BELLS OF L 1INCASHIRE. first built, 1 and there the two bells hung till 1869. The older of these, a mediceval bell of great interest, was cracked and broken, and had for some time been disused.2 Of the other no record appears to have been kept, but Mr. James Butterfield, who took the bells down in 1869, said thirty years later that he thought '.' there was lettering on both " and that both were about the same size, but as he made no memorandum he was not certain.3 However that may be, the second bell, :which was the one then in use, was sent to be melted down, and it now forms part of the tenor bell cast by Messrs. Warner and Sons. The cost (£79 8s. 9d.) was borne by R. A. Cross, Esq. (afterwards Viscount Cross), who was allowed to have the mediceval bell in exchange. This is still preserved at Eccleriggs, Broughton-in Furness, and is described below. There was thus only one bell-the present tenor-at Broughton church between 1869 and 1900. The weights of the new ring are given on a card in the ringing-chamber as follows:- 1. 3 cwt. 1 qr. 20 lbs. 2. 4 0 8 3. 4 2 1 4. 5 1 8 5. 5 3 20 6. 6 2 21 7. 8 3 15 8. 10 0 194 49 cwt. 0 qrs. 0 lbs. 1. This tower was allowed to remain standing when the rest of the church was rebuilt in 1873, and was pulled down only in 1900. 2. At what period the bell became disused is not stated. There are payments for " bell-ropes " and " 2 bell ropes " in 1830 and 1837 nespectively, so apparently .both bells were rung at that time. Mr. Gaythorpe, writing in 1901, says that a former Dalton ringer, then aged 80 years, said that " he saw two bells and heard them ring when he was a boy": Trans. Cttmh. and West. Ant. antl ,heh. Soc. , N.S. ii, 297. 3. Ibid, 298. 4. In Trans. Cttmb. a.nd West. Ant. and .4rch. Soc., N.S., ii, 295, the weight of the tenor is given as 11 cwt. 1 qr. 11 lbs. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 89 There is a written set of thirteen rules. The ringing hours are stated to be : Sundays, 10 to 10-30 and 6 to 6-30. Also on Christmas Day, Whit-Monday, and New Year's Eve and Day. A first full peal of six bells was rung July 17, 1905. There were five lady ringers during the period of the Great War, 1914-19. Writing in 1901, about the time the new bells were added, Mr. Gaythorpe stated:- Since 1869 the tenor bell has been rung on Sundays for morning and evening service, commencing to ring at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. for ten minutes, then after a pause of ten minutes it was rung for another ten minutes till service commenced. The bells are now chimed. The tenor bell was rung at 8 a.m. until the new peal was obtained. I ' THE MEDiiEVAL BELL. This bell, as already stated, became the property of the late Viscount Cross in 1869. However much its alienation from the church may be regretted, it is only right to remember that but for the foresight of Lord Cross the bell would in all probability have been broken up, or recast. It is now carefully preserved by the present Viscount Cross and stands on the floor of the entrance hall at Eccleriggs. The diameter of the bell is 20 in., and its height, exclusive of the cannons, 15 in. The inscription (see fascimile) is: + 10D11nn€s · €Sc • nomEn · mE~m : The letters are each on a separate stamp with diaper background, and are o.f the Lombardic character in use in the fourteenth century. The inscription is beautifully clear, but from the fact that some of the stamps are rather·more worn than others and that there are slight differences in the forms of the letters and the character of the ornamental backgrounos, Mr. Gaythorpe came to the conclusion that the bell was of fifteenth century date, the lettering being a survival. In thfa opinion he was !. Trans. Cumb. and West. Aut. and Arch. Soc., N.S., ii, 300. 90 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. strengthened by the form of the bell, which has a com paratively short waist, and assigned to it a date about 1400-1450 or even later.1 In support of his opinion he quotes Dr. Raven, who wrote : " Contemplating its shape, I am inclined to put the later (15th century) date to it and to regard the lettering as a survival." · This may be so. Dr. Raven's opinion, or rather his inclina tion to an opinion,2 must necessarily be received with great respect; nevertheless I am far from being con vinced that this is not a fourteenth century bell. Too much may be argued from its short waist (15 in. high, 20 in. diam.), for it should be remembered that the Claughton bell differs from it little in shape (16! in. high, 21 3; in. diam.) though its date (1296) is undisputed. The Broughton bell seems to me to show every sign of being of fourteenth century date, and I should be inclined to assign it to the quarter century immediately preceding the year 1400 rather than to the half century following. From the cesthetic point of view the bell has suffered surprisingly little, but it has a piece measuring 7 in. long and 2 in. deep broken from the rim and a long crack extending up the waist. The six cannons have rounded edges. "The crown staple and clapper are gone and at some past time two holes, t in. diam., have been drilled through the crown at the base of the cannons, evidently to insert an iron bar to act as a staple. " 3 The circumference of the bell at the inscription is 36 in. 1. Trans. Gumb. a11d West. Ant. and Arch. Soc., New Series, ii, 300. 2. D r. R aven did not, I understand, see the .bell, but judged from photographs and squeezes. 3. H . Gayth-0 rpe, Trans. Cumb. and West. Ant. and Arch. Soc., New Ser. ii, 299. The bell is figured opp. 298, and the inscription opp. 299. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 91 BROUGHTON TOWER (BROUGHTON-IN-FURNESS). In a narrow opening in one of the outer walls o.f the old part of Broughton Tower, and accessible only from the roof, or by a very long ladder from the ground, is a small bell inscribed: SOLi DEO GLOIUA AO 1747. (13 in. diam.) It is rung by a lever and chain from the outside, with an iron bar in place of headstock. No cannons. Above and below the inscription band is an ornamental border of like type to those used by the eighteenth century York founders, but differing somewhat from those commonly used by Seller and Smith. I was able to examine the bell properly only from the roof side, the manner of its hanging making a view of the other side very difficult. But I believe it correct to say that the borders contain no maker's mark or initials. The origin of the bell must therefore be left undetermined, but it has every appearance of having been cast at York, and is probably by Edward Seller II, who was founding between 1724 and 1764. H e cast a bell for Holme-in Cliviger in this same year (1747). 1 Whether the Broughton bell was cast for use at the Tower is uncer tain .2 Enquiry locally has so far failed to discover any history attaching to it. In 1747 the owner of Broughton Tower was Richard Gilpin Sawrey. The letters AO in the inscription are a contraction of "Anno." Thanks to Captain and Mrs. Rankin for permission to view bell, and for assistance in obtaining access to roof. Date of visit, October 13, 1922. 1. See Transactions, xxxiv, 41. There are also bells by E. Seller at Cartmel Fell, Tunstall, and Whittington. 2. Additions and alterations were made to the Tower about the middle of the eigtheenth century. There are spout heads with the dates 1744 and 1777. 92 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. CARTMEL. ST. MARY. Four bells. 1. PEACE AND GOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD EE (bell) W E (bell) 1726 O O (32 in. diam.) 2. THOMAS KILNER CH: WARDEN W (bell) E 1729. (34 in-. diam.) 3. ~ulceNne "ocis cantabo tuo noetr T ps R Rs WK RTM cw WT IB IB NF IC RC WA below:- w GP (bell) 1661 IS (39 in. diam.) 4. JN IVCVNDITATE SONI SONABO TIBI DOMJNVM TP8 RR 8 WK below:- RTM WT IB 18 NF IC RC WA w cw 1661 IS (42 in. diam.) Hung in timber frame in the upper (diagonal) storey of the central tower and rung from chamber in the square storey below. Access to the tower is by a staircase in the south-east angle of the south transept. The treble and second bells have six cannons and modern wooden headstocks : the cannons have been removed from the third and tenor, which are bolted through the crown to wooden headstocks. 1 A clock strikes the hours on the tenor. 1537 : Five discordant bells (see below). 1552 : No Edwardian inventories. c.1740: Browne Willis notes five bells at Cartmel. TREBLE and SECOND. These two bells were cast at the foundry at Chepstow, Monmouthshire, carried on by Evan and William Evans between the years 1690 and 1. State as in April 1923. At time of writing a restoration of the bells is in contemplation. THE CHURCH JJ1'.'LLS OF LANCASHIRE. 93 1765. 1 The initials of both Evan and William are on the treble but of William only on the second, cast three years later. After the date on the treble are the impres sions of two coins. There is no mention of the purchase of these bells in the churchwardens' accounts, but details of expenditure were not given at that period. The separate statement of Thomas Kilner, of Hard Cragg, who was warden for Walton (Lower Holker) township in 1729 and whose name is on the second bell, shows an expenditure of £37 12s. ld. as against an average of about £2 for each of the other six wardens. The cost of the bell no doubt accounts for the difference. There is no corresponding large di sbursement, however, in 1726. Possibly the treble was a gift. William Evans cast a small bell for Satterthwaite (q.v.) in 1737. THIRD and TE:\'oR . These two bells were cast at Wigan and each bears the initials }~ (John ScoH, Wigan). John Scott, however, had been dead some fourteen years in 1661, 2 but his successor Geoffrey, or Jeffrey, Scott continued to use the old initial stamp.3 The inscription on the THIRD is the familiar " In dulcedine vocis cantabo tuo nomine,' '4 which occurs on the Caton treble (1605) and the Bolton-le-Sands second (1694), the latter by William Scott, of Wigan. Each word is on a separate stamp, but the noeti is very difficult of explanation except on the assumption that it 1s an error. The fi ve letters are all o n one stamp and -- - the absence of a space between noe and tr would seem to di sallow the intention of two separate contracted 1. Evan Evans occurs from 1690 to 1729, William from 1718 to 1765. 2. H is will was proved in 1647. 3. It occurs on the second bell at St. Michael-on-Wyre, 1663. 4. It is wrongly giv"n hy Dr. Barber ns " DulcC'dine vocis <'a ntabo Domin um nostrum." (In F .C.H . . . " Domino nostro. ") Barber also gives the ini tinls on the T enor \Yr nngly: Furness and Cartmel Notes, 158. 94 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LilNCASHIRE. words. Several suggestions for a solution of the diffi culty have been made to me, but none seems entirely adequate, so I prefer to leave the puzzle unsolved. The twelve sets of initials which follow the motto and completely fill up the inscription space are in the bold Roman alphabet which occurs on the Caton tenm, cast in 1617.1 The letters are 1£ in. high, each on a separate stamp, and have a highly enriched ground with floral and other ornament. The two first sets of initials are those of Thomas Preston, esquire, of Holker, and Robert Rawlinson, esquire, of Cark, the letter S, which breaks the fillets above, presumably standing for 'squire. WK is probably William Kilner, of Castlehead, whose name occurs with others in the Church Book at this time.2 After the secular squires and gentry comes the parson, R TM standing for Richard Tatham, Minister, 3 and then the letters CW for Church Wardens. The initials of the wardens for each of the seven town ships comprising the parish follow; the names com memorated being :-William Taylor, for Broughton; James Barwicke, for Upper Holker; John Burscough, for Lower Allithwaite; Nicholas Freind, for Lower Holker; John Cowell the younger, for Staveley ; Robert Cowhirde, for Upper Allithwaite; William Atkinson, for Cartmel Fell. The initials G P, which occur by themselves below the inscription band under the word 1. Trans., xxxix, 139, where I have attributed it to Robert Oldfield. 2. Possibly William Knype of Broughton, may be meant. But as Kilner's name appears elsewhere in 1661 along with those of Thos. Preston and Robt. Rawlinson the initials are probably his. 3. Richard Tatham 's name is not given in the list of Vicars of Cartmel in V.C.H. Lanes., viii, 263. But the registers show that " Dorathy fil Richardi Tatham, Ministr " was bur>ed 31 Dec. 1660. He is probably the same Richard Tatham who was instituted to the rectory of Kirk lington, Yorks, 21 .Jan. 1662-3, and who died in 1698. He was buried at Tunstall, South Lonsdale, where his brother Edmund was vicar (1664-1718). THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 95 " dulcedine," I have not been able to identify . They are not on the tenor. Above the sound bow are the impressions of two coins. TENOR. The whole of the inscription on the tenor bell is in the large Roman letters used for the initials on the third bell, each letter being on a separate stamp. The enrichment of the backgrounds varies considerably, but the use of a thistle within the circle of the letter 0 is particularly to be remarked, as also a reversed heart in the triangular space between the legs of the W the forerunner of the characteristic heart-shaped stops used at the Wigan foundry in later days when con trolled by the Ashtons. The initials on the tenor are the same as those on the third bell, but they are differently distributed, and the GP below the inscription band is missing. In the ringing chamber is an oblong painted board 1 with the following Ringers' Rules :- If you come here to ring a bell With hand and ear you must rrng well. Should you your bell to overthrow Twelve pence you pay before you go. If we for you the changes ring You must to us a shilling bring, And sixpence too without demur If you appear in hat or spur. And if above you choose to go You [erased] pay or stay below.2 A set of chimes, erected in 1730 at the expense of Mrs. 1. The rules are not dated, but probably they go back to the eighteenth century. On the right-hand side of the board are the names of four ringers-W. Fell, W. Jackson, J. Lancaster and T. Fishwick-between the dates 1188 (year of foundation of Priory) and 1867. The latter date is probably the year when the rule-board was repainted and the names added. 2. A similarly worded set of Rules occurs at Dalton-in-Furness, the missing word being there '' sixpence.'' 96 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. Margaret Marshall, of Aynsome, has long been disused, the range of the tunes on four bells being so limited.' There is a set of eight handbells. The history of Cartmel bells since the church became entirely parochial can be reconstructed in part from entries in the church books and wardens' accounts; many of which are printed in Stockdale's Annals of Cartmel. In what follows use has been made not only of the Annals, but of Mr. Stockdale's transcript of the first part of the " Kalendar " 2 and of the accounts down to the year 1634. At the time of the Dissolution of the Priory the bells and lead of the church and other buildings were valued at £15 10s. 4d. ·Whitaker in his History of Cartmel3 quotes a compotus of 1537 in which '' five discordant bells" are mentioned, "the four smaller of which" were " under the care " of the King's farmer and one was in the tower. This would seem to imply that only one bell remained in the tower in 1537, the other four having been taken away. But "under the care of" may not necessarily mean removal. The story of the bells immediately after the Dissolution is a little obscure. Dr. Cox has stated that " of the six large bells in the tower the parish claimed three as their own," but gives no reference.4 From the time of the Dissolution to almost the end of the sixteenth century nothing is recorded of the bells, 1. Barber, Furness and Cartmel Notes, 159. The chimes had then (1894) been long out of use. In 1732 it was agreed " to pay yearly the sum of forty shillings to J ohn Cowperthwaite for looking after and taking care of the chimes." 2. The Church Book is styled " A Full and Perfect Kalendar made and begun [in] 1597 ... " The first volume goes down to the year 1674, and includes Wardens' accounts. M r. Stockdale tra nscribed the years 1597-1614. The second volume covers the period 1674-1801, but the later entries do not give any details of the Wardens' disbursements. 3. Appendix to Hist. of Whalley, 3rd ed. (1818), pp. 553-562. 4. Memorials of Old Lanes., i, 210. TJ-IE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 07 but in the Church Book under date 1599 are these entries:- 10 April. Item for Coll eringe of the Bells, payed by Henrie ~~ ~- A perfect & fini 'sh accompt taken of the Churchwardens the llth daie of Julie: The Bells casting and Mettall to them came to £24-13-8. 28 Sept. Item to Thomas Burie for Collaring the Belles iis. During the early years of the seventeenth century there are a few items of payment in connection with the bells, but it is not till 1624 that the number (three) is mentioned. Whether these were the three old bells "claimed by the parishioners " can now only be con jectured, but it is more likely they dated only from 1599. The number of the bells (three) is mentioned in the following agreement made in 1624 :- xijo die Ap rilis, 1624. It is 'this day agreed between the churchwardens and the xxiiijtie I and Rowlande Sw:iinson accordinge to a former agreement that the said Rowland shall ha ve ij s a yea re for the [hangeinge of the)2 bells clappers upon condition that he fynde them sufficicntlye at all tyme yearlye and hange them upon his own charges fur this price, whereof hee [we] hathc paycd him this daye for two yeares iiijs for all before this date, which he is to continue doinge ycarlye at the pleasure of the churchwardens and xxiiijtic viz. for three Bells ; and the money to bee payed yearlye on E aster Tuesdaye. Rowland Swainson (his mark). In this same year it was suggested to buy a clock bell, if it could not be contrived for the clock (which was in the south transept) to strike upon " some of the bells in the steeple." Two years later the condition of the bells was causing uneasiness, the "amendynge the decaye in the bells" being considered at a meeting held April 4, 1626. ------··· ·· ·- ····---·-·----·- - ---·--···------1. The care of the poor and parochial affairs generally were entrusted to twenty-four persons known as the Twenty-four (x:x;iiijtie) sidesmen. 2. The words in brackets have been added above the line. 98 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. The next reference to the bells is in 1630. In that year the great bell was recast by Thomas Stafford, of Penrith, the agreement with whom is thus set forth:- July 28, 1630. It is agreede daye and yeare above said betweene J ohn Wainhouse, Christopher Fell and others the church wardens and xxiiijtie of the 1>a rish of Cartmel of the one p'tie and Tho. Stafford, of Penrith, in the county of Cumberland, Belfounder, of the other p 'tye, for the new castinge of the greate bell of the p 'ishe Churche of Cartmel, vzt.-First the churchwardens and xxiiijtie do covenant to finde a ll the mettall and other necessaries whatsoever for and towards the new castinge of the bell (the charges and expenses of the same Thos. Stafford duringe the time of the castinge of the same excepted), and to pay unto the said Thos. Stafford for the workmannshippe and his laboure and charges there in the full sum of vijli when and as soon as the same is hunge upp in the steeple, and found tuneable as hereafter is mentioned. And the said Thos. Stafford, for the consid eration aforesaid doth coven ante to and with the said churchewardens a nd the rest a foresaid to cast the said bell sufficientlye sound and tuneable to the other bells therein, at the discretion of two indifferent men to be named by both the said p'ties for that purpose, and to give sufficient securitye for the performance thereof accordinglye, and have received in earnest of his bargaine fyve shillings. Not much is known of this Thomas Stafford, bell founder. He cast a bell for Kirkby Stephen (the treble of the old ring) in 1631, and the old fourth and possibly the third at Penrith were cast by him about 1639. There is no trace of him, or of any one of his name, in the Penrith registers, and it is therefore unlikely that he was a native of the town. It has been conjectured, on the strength of the similarity of mottoes, that Stafford served his apprenticeship with the Newcombes of Leicester.1 Whether Stafford recast the Cartmel bell in Penrith does not appear, but the reference to his expenses during the time of the casting would seem to point to the work having been done in Cartmel. The little, or lesser, bell appears to have also been recast in 1630. 1. Trans. Gumb and !V es t. Ant. and .. lrch. Soc., > The payments recorded in the wardens' accounts for the year 1630-31 include many items in connection with the recasting and with the bells generally. There are payments for " casting great bell," for " casting the lesser bell," for " mettall which came from Clapham " and for many incidentals of the work. The payments are distributed over the whole parish and appear variously in the separate accounts of each of the wardens. The entries show that over £18 was paid for metal (for which bell not always stated), but the sums paid to the bellfounder are a bit puzzling as £2 ls. is paid for casting the great bell and £4 12s. 2d. for the less~r bell. Whatever may be the explanation, the interest of these entries lies chiefly in their showing that two bells were cast in this year. Some items of expenditure in 1634 show a small pay ment for bell metal and imply a visit from the bell founder. Itm to Symon Collinson for bell mettall o - iijs - jd fo r the table of the Bell caster 0 - xs - 0 more to the Bell caster o - is - o Geo. Cowper for helping the bell caster o - js - iiijd to Jno. Ashburner for work to Bells and drink o - xijs - vjd The great bell cast in 1630 had not a lo ng life, for in a little over thirty years the present tenor was cast at Wiga n. How long the "lesser bell " of 1630 hung in the tower cannot be stated. An Inventory of Church Goods was taken at Cartmel on November 29, 1642, but the only items referring to the bells are the following : - Itm : 4 bell roopes I tm : in Bell mettle [left blank] There is also '' one greate cable roope, '' but whether this had any connection with the bells is doubtful. The mention of four bell-ropes suggests that there were then four bells, but this cannot be stated as a positive fact. 100 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. Another Inventory was taken on April 15, 1661, but again the number of the bells is not mentioned. The only items connected with the belfry are:- It: one Roope lying in the stee1)le in length 22 fathome et di. It : 3 old Bell roopes In this same year (1661) two lays or casts, each of twenty marks, were collected for repairing the church and bells. The sum of twenty marks was, however, found in sufficient for the repair of the bells, two of which had to be recast, and on 4th March 1661-2 a forty mark cast was ordered " for the defrayinge of the charges for the new castinge the bells and other needful things in the church." The bells in question are the existing third and tenor, both of which bear the initials of the seven wardens (previously given). They were cast at \!Vigan by Geoffrey Scott, and two of the wardens-James Barwicke and John Burscough-appear to have been present at the casting. One more entry of this period may be quoted:- 1663, Apr. 21. It is likewise ordered by consent of the xxiiijtie that the Churchwa rdens shall pay to J ohn Bateman the sum of ijli ijs & iij RINGERS. References to ringers and ringing m the church wardens' accounts are few. In 1661 (May 28) it was ordered that the Sexton shall have them to be usuall ringers on the Lord's daie which doe use to ring at burialls, otherwise they shall not be per mitted at burials to ring. In 1770 one of the duties of the newly appointed parish clerk was that he shall toll the Prayer Bell consta ntly every Sunday and Holiday and every vVedncsday and Friday thruughout the year. This (with other duties) was confirmed in 1789. From 1791 to 1800 (when the entries cease) the sum of four guineas was paid yearly to the ringers, and there are yearly payments for "hiring ringers "-usually 5s. or 6s. Other payments are for " dressing bells 7s. 6d."; for ropes, 13s. in 1796, 4s. 8d. in 1799; "ringing Little Bell," £1 ls. in 1793, in addition to the usual payment to the ringers; and "repairing bells" 8s. 6d. in 1799. In 1897, at the time of Queen Victoria's second Jubilee, a fund was started to increase the number of the bells in the tower to six, but the intention, after the lapse of more than quarter of a century, is still unfulfilled, and part of the fund has, I understand, been loaned for other church uses. At the time of writing (May 1923) there appears to be some likelihood of tlie matter being again revived, but opinion is divided as to whether the fund should be reopened for the purchase of two new bells, or wound up and the money devoted to other purposes. Probably some portion of the money will be used for the " resto1ation " of the existing bells, but there are not a few persons who would regret the increase of the ring to six, for both sentimental and practical reasons. The sound of four bells is very intimately associated in the minds of many people with memories of Cartmel and to such the more " standardized " sound of a peal of six does not appeal. But more serious is the objection on 102 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. the ground of danger to the tower. The upper, or diagonal portion of the tower in which the bells hang, is carried on squinches, or small arches of stone across the angles of the lower storey, a method of con struction scarcely likely to stand the extra vibration set up by change ringing, which would naturally follow the increase of the peal to six. It would seem inevitable therefore that if the addition of two new bells takes place that the upper part of the tower would be in grave danger or that it should be remodelled in some way to guard against disaster. Any alteration to or tampering with this unique feature is highly to be deprecated, and I am therefore obliged to range myself on the side of those who wish the bells to remain as they are. The money in hand would be better employed in safe guarding the fabric of the church1 than by doing any thing to endanger its safety or destroy any of its architectural features. CARTMEL FELL. ST. ANTHONY. Two bells. 1. DEO GLORIA 1734 (21 in. diam.) 2. Blank. (24 in. diam.) Hung in triangular timber frame in west tower. There is space in the frame, at the west end, for a third bell. Both bells have cannons (six) and wooden headstocks. The FmsT is by Edward Seller II, of York, and has his ornamental stamp with the name E.Ef.~~" between two bells, four times repeated, between the words and date of the inscription. Rung with full wheel and rope from the floor of the church. The SECOND has a blank inscription band between double fillets. There is no maker's name or mark of any kind. The bell is badly cracked and has long been 1. For instance-the furnace of the heating apparatus might be put in a more suitable plaoe than under the vestry containing a library of rare books, with only a wood floor and a sheet of asbestos between. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHlRE. 103 disused. The crack extends upwards from the rim for about 13 in., and then for about 8! in. at right angles below the inscription band. Rung formerly with a half wheel (remaining). The bell is probably ancient and may be of the same date as the church, which was erected about 1503 as a parochial chapel of Cartmel. D ate of visit, August 11, 1920. COLTON. HOLY TRINITY. One bell. 1. + CJIIDPJIUJI : B€JICI : 10fiJIUU€S : JIPPCI (22 in. diam.) Hung between two 7 x 4 wooden joists in west tower and rung with lever from chamber on first floor. The joists are 27! inches apart and rest on the east and west walls of the tower. Cannons let into wooden headstock. Skylight to bell-chamber. This bell is of great interest, and from the Lombardic type of lettering used in the inscription (see facsimile) may be assigned to the fourteenth century. It has been conjectured, 1 but not I think on sufficient grounds, to have been cast by John de Kirkham, of York, who flourished c.1370. Each letter is on a separate stamp, as are also the peculiar three-figured stops and the initial cross patonce. The stops resemble "three horns [pale wise] curved at the points, thickened at the middle and enlarged and conjoined at the wide ends."2 The height of the bell exclusive of the cannons is 19! inches. The belief that this bell originally belonged to Conis head Priory Church is not sustained by evidence. But it is not to be wholly rejected, for the bell is older than the church, and the local influence both at Cartmel and Colton· of the Sandys family, as pointed out by Mr. Gaythorpe, makes for probability. 1. See Raven, Bells of England, p. 184; Cowper, Hawlzshead, p. 175. John de Kirkham's lettering is well known (cf. Dacre, Cumberland), and is not of the sa me type. 2. H . Gaythorpe in Trans. Cumb. and West. Ant. and Arch. Soc., New Ser., ii, 282. 104 THE CHURCH BELLS OF L11NCASHIRE. The bell was rehung and the fitting restored in May, 1901. Immediately before the cannons were described as '' fixed by iron straps to an oak headstock, much worm eaten. The crown staple is broken off. Two holes have been drilled through the crown and in place of the crown staple an iron bar with bolts at th~ ends has been fixed inside and secured with nuts outside. The clapper is attached to the iron bar.' ' 1 In 1901 a new oak headstock bound with iron hoops was sub stituted for the old one, other new fittings fixed, and the beams strengthened.2 In 1901 the Ringing Customs are thus described:- The bell is rung on Sundays at 10-15 a.m. for five minut•es as a first bell, and again at 10-25 for five minutes as a second bell. It is also rung in the same way before afternoon and evening service, and is simply tolled at funera!s.3 There is a stairway to the first floor of the tower, but from there access to the bell-chamber is by a ladder. CONISHEAD PRIORY. ST. MARY. The Augustinian Priory of Conishead was dissolved in 1536. No part of the church, or indeed of any of the monastery buildings, remains above ground. A modern mansion, begun in 1821, occupies the site. At the time of the Dissolution the bells and lead were valued at £44 18s.4 The church had a central tower, in which four bells were hanging in 1537, and one small bell remained in the charge of Thomas, Lord Monteagle. The four larger bells were afterwards sold to Walter Curwen for £36 13s. 4d.5 One of these bells was the gift of Sir William Harrington of Aldingham (d. 1458), and is now at Urswick (q.v.), but the statements some times made that the medi~val bells now at Aldingham, t. Trans. Cuml>. and West. Ant. and Arch. Soc., New Ser. ii, 285. 2. Ibid, 286. 3. Ibid, 286. 4. V. C. I-I. Lanes., ii, 143. 5. Pro. Barrow Nat. Fld. Club, xvii, 46. THE CHURCH BELLS OF L tlNCASHIRE. lOE Broughton and Colton came from Conishead Priory Church, are, I think, more or less conjectural. There is a certain probability as regards the Colton bell, but direct evidence, such as exists in the case of the U rswick tenor, is so far not forthcoming. In the modern mansion, which since 1878 has been a hydropathic establishment, is a small bell, with cannons and clapper inscribed IB JlO 1604 (12~ in. diam.) The initials and date are in the usual position below the shoulder between a triple upper and single lower band. At the time of my visit (October, 1922) this bell was kept in a cupboard below the grand staircase, and I was informed by the manageress that it was brought out and used once only in the year-on December 31, at mid night, to ring in the New Year. Inquiry has so far failed to discover any history attaching to this bell, or how it comes to be at Conishead. Both sets of initials are of interest. I .B. naturally suggests a member of the Braddyll family, but John Braddyll, of Portfield, Whalley, did not succeed to the Conishead estate till 1683. It is possible that he brought it with him to Conishead, but the Braddyll in possession of Portfield in 1604 was named Edward. Edward Braddyll died in 1607, leaving a son John, then aged fifty. This John, aged forty-seven in 1604, may possibly have been the I.B. whose initials are on the bell, but it does not seem likely. The initials may have no reference to a member of the Braddyll family. The letters R.0. are more interesting as they occur also on small bells of about the same period at Turton Tower (1587) and Winwick Church (1600), both of which have been noticed, 1 and which I have attributed to Robert Orrell, of Wigan, a little-known founder, who I. Turton in Trans., xxxiii, llO; Win wick in Trans., xxxii, 116. The Caton tenor (1617) also bears the initials R.O., but is by Robert or Richard Oldfield (sec Trans., xxxix, 139). 106 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. cast a bell for Bodfari Church, in Flintshire, in 1592, and another for a church in Chester in 1600. 1 The Winwick bell is of the same diameter (12! inches) as this at Conishead, and the inscription is between a triple upper and double lower band. One of the three Old fields2 is always possible as the founder o.f one or other of these R.O. bells, but a \Vigan origin is fa~ from unlikely and, indeed, seems to me to be very probable. CONISTON. ST. ANDREW. Two bells. 1. Blank. (21! in. diam). 2. Blank. (24 in. diam.) Hung in west tower and rung by lever from floor of church. Cannons and wooden headstocks. Each bell has an " inscription band " enclosed by double fillets, but no marks or ornament of any kind. The bells appear to be modern, but may possibly date from the period of the rebuilding of the church (1818-19). I incline, however, to a later date. A drastic restoration, amounting to a rebuilding, took place in 1891. Access to the bell-chamber is by a door from the west gallery and thence by ladder. Mr. W. G. Collingwood, M.A., F.S.A., quotes Mr. Roger Bownass, of Coniston, as saying:- The Belfry towe r was wholly rebuilt a t the same time as the church in 1818-19. . . One reason for rebuilding the church [was] the alleged state of the old tower, the bells of which the sexton pretended he durst not ring for foar he should bring the tower down about his ears, though it was difficult to get it down.3 This shows that there was more than one bell-pre sumably two-in a tower previous to the rebuilding of 1819. The date of the old tower is unknown, but the church was not older than Queen Elizabeth's reign (c.1586). 1. See note in Trnns., xxxii, 117. 2. R owland, of Y ork (1586--1615), Robert, of H ertford (1605-40), and Richard, itinerant (1606-40). But the two latter are very unlikely. See not.e under Caton, Trans., xxxix, 140. 3. Abbreviated from The Book of Coniston, 1906 ed., p. 50. THE CHURCH BELLS UF L ANCASHIRE. 107 DALTON. ST. MARY. Eight bells. 1. JOHN WARNER AND SONS, FOUNDERS, LONDON. (29 in. diam.) 2. The same. (30 in. diam.) 3. The same. (32 in. diam.) 4. The same. (34i in. diam.) 5. The same. (38 in. diam.) 6. The same. (40! in. diam.) 7. The same. (45 in. diam.) 8. JOHN WARNER AND SONS, FOUNDERS, LONDON, I9IJ. (SO! in. diam.) In addition each bell has an inscription on the waist as follows:- 1. HANC CAMP AN AM D: D: J.G.L. et J.K.L. IN MEMOIUAM H.W.M., S.A.M. et L .L. A.D. MCMXIII 2. THIS BELL WAS GIVEN BY JOSEPH & ELIZABETH FISHER & FAMILY A.D. 1913 3. THIS BELL WAS GIVEN BY T. & J. ASHBURNER 25 APRIL A.D. 1888. 25 APRIL A.O. 1913. 4. THIS BELL WAS GIVEN BY THE FAMILY OF THE LATE ABRAM & SARAH HEYS. IN MEMORIAM A.D. 1913 5. TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN GRATITUDE FOR HIS MERCIES DURING 50 YEARS RESIDENCE AT MILLWOOD THIS BELL WAS GIVEN BY EDWARD WADHAM AND HIS WIFE AND FAMILY A.D. 1913 THIS BELL WAS GIVEN BY THE SIDESMEN. A.D. 1913 7. THIS BELL WAS GIVEN BY KENNEDY BROTHERS A.D. 1913 108 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LJNCASHJRE. 8. HONOIU DEi ET HUIUSCE PAROCHIAE USUI HAE SUNT CAMPANAE. J. G. LEONARD, M.A. VICAR. J. FISHER JR, { H. W. PRESTON W. J. KELLEWAY CHURCHWARDENS W. PRESTON A.D. MCMXIII. Hung in steel frame in west tower. The frame is made with pits for ten bells, and it is hoped some day to add two trebles. Headstocks of cast-iron. Bells tuned on Canon Simpson's principle. Rung from first floor. The bell-chamber is large (18 ft. by 19 ft.) and well kept. The bells were dedicated by the Bishop of Carlisle on June 20, 1913, and took the place of a ring of six cast by vVarner and Sons in 1866, 1 the metal of which was re-used. The weights and notes are given as follows:- 1. 4 cwt. 3 qrs. 14 lbs. Note E flat 2. 5 3 0 D 3. 6 2 16 c 4. 7 3 26 B flat 5. 10 1 4 A flat 6. 12 O 12 G 7. 16 1 25 F 8. 21 2 3 E flat Total 85 cwt. 2 qrs. 16 lbs. 1552 . two hande bells ... thre bells in the steple, iij sackering bells. The churchwardens 1. See below, p. 110. THE CH URCH HELLS OF L .1NCASJIIRE. 109 bells (the treble) is known to have been of pre-Reforma tion date, but of the other two I have failed to find any record. Indeed the history of the Dalton bells before 1865 is a little obscure. It has been stated that " the bells at Dalton Church were increased in number from one to three" in 1790, 1 but this must, I think, be an error, as Browne Willis had noted three in the middle of the eighteenth century .2 Mr. Harper Gaythorpe, writing in 1903, quotes from some notes made by Dr. Close (the editor of West's Antiquities of Furness) in 1810, in which reference is made to " the three large bells in the steeple of Dalton church." On the treble was an inscription in " black letter smalls with crowned Gothic capitals," which 1s given as follows:- loacbtm Genero[s]e 1R[e]g[t]e IDe\?otor[umJ Jl)rtmogenite After the last word was a founder's mark-a shield charged with three bells. Similar lettering and the same founder's mark are said to occur on a bell at Abber ley, Worcestershire, and on bells in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, all of which are believed to have been cast at York.3 Failing a facsimile, or more exact record, of I. H . Gaythorpe in Furness Lore, p. 102 (under U rswick) : the asser tion is apparently based upon a statement made in 1884 by Mr. John Fell, of Daneghyll, that " in 1790 a ring of bells was purchased which was the ' ring of three ' remaining until they were superseded by the peal of six in 1866" (Trans. Cumb. and West. Ant. and Arch. Soc., viii, 122. 2. Browne Willis died i·n February, 1760. 3. Pro. Rarrow Nat. Fld. Club, xvii, 215 . For the Abberley bell see Walters, Ch. Bells of Worcestershire, p. 24. Reference is made also to plates ix (founder's mark) and xiii of Mr. Eyre Poppleton 's " Notes on the Bells of the Ancient Churches of the West Riding of Yorkshire," Yorks. Arch. Journal, xvii. In Trans. Gumb. and West. Ant. and Arch. Soc., viii, 122, it is stated that " the old bells were of a well known Yorkshire type," but no authority is given. Proba.bly the treble only was meant. 110 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. the inscription on the former Dalton treble, I am unable to express any opinion as to the age or origin of the bell. A fragment from the rim of one of the bells removed in 1865, measuring about 5 in. by 5 in., is preserved in the vestry of the church. The weights and notes of the ring of six cast in 1866 by Messrs. J. Warner and Son were as follows : - 1. 5 cwt. 3 qrs. 22 lbs. Note E 2. 6 o 13 D 3. 6 2 19 c 4. 6 3 21 B 5. 7 3 16 A 6. 10 3 17 G These bells hung in the old tower till its demolition in 1884, a nd in the present tower from 1885 to 1913. In the ringing chamber is a copy (apparently recently written) of the same rhyming Rules as are found at Cartmel. DALTON. MILLWOOD. One bell. At "Millwood," the residence of Walter F. A. Wadham, Esq., J.P., is a small bell (10 in. diam.) hung with lever and chain in a stone bell-cote over a gable at the south end of the house. The bell is of Italian origin and was purchased some years ago in London and pre sented to the late Mr. Edward Wadham by his brother in-law. It is elaborately enriched with ornamental bands round the shoulder and rim and four swags round the upper part of the waist. Lower down on the waist is the name of the maker TERZO RAFANELLI IN PISTOIA in small Roman letters :i in. high, on three stamps. There is no date, but after the word '' Pistoia '' is a small stamp with a mark the significance of which I am unable to explain. The bell has two cannons only and is attached to an iron bar. There is a plaster cast of the inscription and ornament, made by the late Mr. Harper THE CHURCH BELLS OF L 1INCASHIRE. 111 Gaythorpe, in the Barrow-in-Furness Museum. Inquiry as to Terzo Rafanelli has as yet been without result. \Vithout knowledge of Italian bells it is difficult and unwise to suggest a date for the Millwood bell, but it is probably not older than the end of the seventeenth century. The old bell from Ireleth chapel (q.v.), pulled do~n in 1863, was for a time at Millwood, but was later replaced by the Italian bell. Thanks to Mr. Walter Wadham for permission to inspect the .bell and for information as to purchase. I DENDRON. ST. MATTHEW. One bell. I . 1810 (18 in. diam.) Hung in west tower and chimed by lever. Cannons and wooden headstock. The clapper strikes on one side only, which is consequently very much worn. In place of an " inscription band " between fillets the bell has a set-back crown.2 The date is on the waist, and below it is a slung horn, or ougle (li inches over all). The significance of this emblem I am unable to explain: it may, of course, be merely a local founder's trade-mark. The numerals are ~ in. high. Dendron was a chapel of the parish of Aldingham, first built in 1642. The present church dates from 1795, but the tower is an addition in 1833. Before that year the bell hung in a turret over the west gable. This turret, " which formerly served the double purpose of ----·------ 1. Mr. Wadham was unable to say in what year the bell was pur thased nor from whom, there being no record with regard to it. See Also Pro. Barrow Nat. Fld. Club, xvii, 55, 78, where the bell is said to have been originally in an Italian convent. 2. Compare second bell at Pilling and first at Stalmine (Trans. xxxvii, 63, and xxxviii, 103). 112 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. bell-turret and chimney,'' was placed on the new school room in 1833, 1 where it may still be seen. No stairway to tower. Access by trap-door, and single ladder, which must be drawn up to reach bell. Date of visit, August 13, 1920. EGTON. ST. }1ARY. One bell. 1. Blank. (20 in. diam.) Hung with wheel in closed wooden turret over west gable, and rung from 11oor of church. The bell has a moulded crown, and three fillets above the sound bow, but there is no "inscription band." Six cannons and wooden headstock. The original church was a late eighteenth-century building, consecrated in 1791, and the bell is probably of that date. It is quite plain, without maker's mark or initials. There is no record of the purchase of a bell in the wardens' accounts, but the "bell chain" was repaired in 1794. From items in the wardens' accounts it would appear that originally the bell hung in a cupola. This gave place later to a west tower which stood till the present nave was built. The original chapel was enlarged in 1831 and a chancel built in 1855. A writer in the North Lonsdale Magazine (1900)2 says that the nave was rebuilt in its present form in 1864 and the tower taken down, but the wardens' accounts show payments for " repairing Tower " in 1865. When the tower was built is not quite clear unless the payments " for erecting a new Belfry " in 1805 refer to it. Egton-with-Newland was a chapelry of the parish of Ulverston. The church is situated at Penny Bridge, near Greenodd. 1. Pro. Barrow Nat. Fld. Club, xvii, 253. 2. Vol. iii, p. 28. An illustration of old church, with tower, is given. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 11 3 FIELD BROUGHTON. ST. PETER. One bell. i. .1mno nomm1 mncccxc1" On waist: IOIHll?U€S CJIY£0R 1€CIC (39 in. diam.) Hung in iron frame in central tower; iron headstock. Rung from chamber on first floor. The inscription and maker's name are in a beautiful Gothic lettering copied from a group of bells in Lincolnshire.1 Below the inscription band is a border of inverted cresting. There is room in the bell-chamber for a full ring. The present church was built in 1892-94, on a site slightly to the north of the old chapel. This was a plain stuccoed building with west bell-turret and long north transept. It was erected in 1745 as a chapel of Cartmel, and was taken down in 1892. The old bell is now2 at the Vicarage, where it hangs in a porch near the back entrance. It is a blank bell with cannons, 15! in . diameter. FINSTHWAITE. ST. PffTER. three bells + 10 tubes. 1. C. & G. MEAllS FOUNDERS LONDON 1856 (19k in. diam.) Hung in central tower, along with a set of ten tubes by Harrington, Latham & Co., of Coventry. These were the only bells till 1920, when a clock, with two clock bells by Taylor & Co., of Loughborough, was placed in the tower. The present church was built in 1874, taking the place of one erected in 1724. Locally the old bell was thought to be the one put up in 1724, and my announcement, after inspection, that it was dated 1856 caused some surprise. It is possibly a recasting of the original eighteenth-century bell. 1. See H. B. Walters, Ch. Bells of Shropshire, p. 310. 2. Date of visit, August 10, 1920. 114 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. The new bells are hung dead, but both have clappers. To that of the tenor a rope is attached. This " clock ing " of a dead bell is unfortunate and pre-figures a short life. The clock is by W. Potts and Sons, of Leeds. The hours are struck on the tenor. 2. The SECOND BELL is 21 in. diam. Rourid the shoulder is inscribed C.E.H. ET L.E.H. IN MEM. J.F.H., the space being made out with a vine pattern border. Above the sound bow is inscribed + I AM CALLED JOHN + LET MY TONGUE MAKE ALL MEN TO PRAISE THEE. On the waist in larger letters PEACE J 1919 3. The TENOR is 28! in. diam., and has on the shoulder PEACE 1919. Above the sound bow, in two lines, is inscribed WHEN I THE PASSING TIME FORTHTELL J PRAY FOR THOSE WHO FOR YOU FELL. On the waist in large letters S. PETRUS. The lettering on both bells is of the same Gothic type as the bell at Field Broughton (q.v.). In addition to the inscriptions each b~ll has the circular trade-mark of TAYLOR LOUGHBOROUGif on the other side of the waist breaking the date 19 0 20. These bells were dedicated on October 10, 1920. Their history is set out in the following inscriptions in the chancel : - The CLOCK a nd TENOR BELL have been placed in the Tower of this Church .by the inhabitants of the Parish of Finsthwaite in grateful remembrance of those who from the parish lai~ down their lives in the Great W ar 1914-18. The Second Bell has been placed in this tower by Clement Edward I Hoyland of Stock Park and Louise Eddie his wife in memory of their son I John Fraser Hoyland Capt. 4th Batt. Lanes. Fusiliers who was killed in J action at Mouquet Farm, Thiepval, France, Sept. 26, 1916. Access to the bell-chamber is by a straight stairway in the thickness of the north and west walls-an admir able arrangement which unfortunately is very rare. THE CHURCH BELLS OF L.4NCASHIRE. 115 FLOOKBURGH. ST. JoHN BAPTIST. Four bells. 1. JOHN TAYLOR & co FOUNDERS LOUGH BOROUGH LEICESTERSHIRE + r900 + (34 in. diam.) 2. The same. (36 in. diam.) 3. The same but AND instead of &. (40 in. diam.) 4. The same as No. 3. (45 in. diam.) Hung in iron frame in west tower. Vine pattern border below inscription band in each case. The weight of the tenor is given as 17 cwt. Ringing chamber on first floor : access by stair from external doorway. In the ringing chamber is a set of printed " Rules for the Belfry" (eight in number) dated October 31, 1900. The times of ringing are set out as follows:- Sundays : 10-10 a.m. and 5-25 p.m. Easter Sunday: 6 a.m., 10-10 a.m., and 5-25 p.m. Whit-Sunday: 6 a.m., 10-10 a.m., and 5-25 p.m. Christmas Eve : 6 to 8 p.m. Christmas Day: 6 a.m., 10-10 a.m. and [erased] p.m. New Year's Eve : 10-30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Below the Rules are printed these lines:-- If you come here to dng a bell With hand and ear you must ring well; If you your bell should overthrow Thirty pence you pay before you go ; And sixpence more without demur If you appear in hat and spur.1 The present church was built on a new site in 1900. There was a chapel at Flookburgh as far back as 1520, under Cartmel. This chapel, which stood in the middle of the village, was rebuilt in 1777-8, when it was specified '' the bell to be hung in the manner it is at present." This bell was probably one purchased in 1736, 1. Compare Cartmel (q.v.) and Dalton, where, however, twelvepence was the forfeit for overthrowing. 116 1'HE CH URCH BELLS OF L ,1NCASHIRE. as shown in the old chapel books, 1 but which has now disappeared. It hung in a turret, or bell-cote over the west gable. The building erected in 1777 was pulled down when the present church was built. GRANGE. ST. PAUL. One bell. 1. 1772 (16 in. diam.) Hung in turret at south-west angle of nave. The church is of modern foundation, dating only from 1853, but since enlarged by the addition of wide aisles. The bell was purchased in 1853 from the church wa rdens of Cartmel by Mr. Mark Waring; and by him given to Grange Church.2 Bell sold to Grange Church, 107 lbs. @ ls. £5 - 7 - 6 3 The date is high up on the waist, there being no inscription band. Rung by wheel from floor of church. No ca nnons, iron bar in place of headstock. The mouldings above the sound bow are concave : the numerals are ! in. high. Access by ladder from valley between roofs of nave and south aisle. A proposal to enlarge the church and erect a tower and bells was put forwa rd at the Easter Vestry meeting of 1887. The vicar stated that a plan had been made near! y twenty years before, but " no scheme would have his sanction that did not provide for a peal of bells." One parishioner present said that he should object to the erection of a belfry so close to his residence, a nother expressed the opinion that " however anxious some of the richer portion might be to have the bells, the idea would not commend itself to the people generally." It was decided not to press the matter .4 1. Stockdale's Annals of Cartmel, p. 271. 2. Ki~by , Rural Deanery of Cartm el (1892), p. 62. 3. Extract from Cartmel Church Book. See under Cairtmcl, p. JOO supra. 4. L ancaster Observer, April 29, IR87. THE CHURCH BELLS OF L ANCASHIRE. 117 HAWKSHEAD. ST. MICHAEL. Six bells. 1. Reguard : Look too. The Peal I Lead 0 0 17 6 5 o o r;~~~~f)w; I Belo w band: :: Awake, awake; Day is Reftord, Awake, arife to praife y Lord · · (28 in. d iam.) 2. We to the firft must take good head 0 C 1765 0 0 j~~~ -, (29! in. diam.) 3. In v0< xa... the v0 4. I v0< xa-. mind v0 Barrow I IJ (bell) H l ~~ ~:~ f)WH I (32! in. diam.) 5. IN THE FIFTH PLACE I GIVE MY SOUND 1765 Below band: JOHN BENSON ESQ. OF BEETHOLME, WESTMOQLAND GLOQY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST. QECAST 1810 (34! in. diam.) 6. : I Clofe the Peal. Ring the Bells Round. --Ba rrow 1765 Barrow I !J (bell) H - - - -I J (bell) H - - - - 11 8 THE CH URCH B ELLS OF Lll NCASHIRE. Below band: Memento Mori ~ Myles Sandys Esq'; of Graythwaite Hall: ~ (37 in. diam.) Hung in timber frame in west tower. A full ring with fifth recast-by James Harrison, of Barrow, in Lincolnshire, 1765. Rehung, cannons removed and iron headstocks fitted in 1911 by J. Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, at a cost of £126. The bells were rung for the first time after having been retuned and rehung, on June 22, 1911 (Coronation Service). They had pre viously been rehung in 1876, in which year a new clock was put up. The quarters a re chimed, and the hours struck on the tenor. The weight of the original six bells was 36 cwt. 3 qrs. 7 lbs. No stairs, access by ladders. These are the only bells by James Harrison, of Barrow-on-Humber, that I have found in Lancashire. Harrison, however, had hung Lester and Pack's bells at W alton-le-Dale in 1761, 1 some two years before he set up as a bell-founder. He was casting at Barrow between 1763 and 1770, when he was succeeded by Henry H arrison.2 The first and second bells have two coins on each side of the date, and the fourth a single coin after the word " Ring." On the second the numerals 65 are engraved, a wrong date having probably been cast on the bell, and afterwards cut away. On the third the word '' Bell founder " appears as " Bellfouder," a small " n " being afterwards engraved above. The spelling of " to " and " heed " on the first and second are as given above. The motto " Memento mori " on the tenor has apparently no reference to Myles Sandys of Graythwaite, as has been supposed. Mr. Sandys died April 29, 1766, but Harri son had been paid for casting the bells in October 1765. 1. See Transactions, xxxiv, 59. H e was chosen to recast the bcJls a t Pr.eston Parish Church in 1762 : T rans. xxxviii, 92. 2. F or H arrison's fo undry see North, Ch. BP. lls of L incolnshire. 60-67. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 119 The words '' Memento mori '' are not uncommon as a bell inscription, though occurring infrequently m Lancashire.1 There is no founder's name or initials on the recast fifth bell. The inscription is in large ugly block letters very like those on the fourth and sixth bells at Leyland, 2 cast in 1835 by John Stevenson of Preston. . Possibly this bell is from the same foundry. It is, at any rate, equally lacking in any element of beauty. The history of the Hawkshead bells has been written byilJ.\1r. H. S. Cowper, F.S.A., in his book on the town and parish,3 from which the following abbreviated account is taken:- Before 1765 there were only three bells in the tower. Of these two were melted down 6y Harrison for the new ring and the third was sold to Mr. Irton, the owner of Hawkshead Hall, but has long disappeared.4 Nothing, therefore, can be said about the three old bells, as no record of them appears to have been kept. In the churchwardens' accounts before 1765 (see below) there are references to the "litte bell" (1721), the middle bell (1745), and the great bell (1723), the last named having been taken down and put up again as late as 1746. Mr. Cowper has set out in full the account for casting the new bells in 1765, and has also printed numerous extracts from the Vestry Books and Churchwardens' Accounts relating to the bells between 1721 and 1766. 1. They occur on the Warton tenor 1731, in conjunction with the name of the Vicar, who died in 1733. 2. Transactions, xxxii, 153. 3. Hawkshead: its history, antiquities, folklore, etc., 1899. 4. " What became of this bell,'' says Mr. Cowper, "is quite unknown. Irton died in 1766, a year or so after he acquired it, and possibly his relations handed it back to the churchwardens and it went into the melting pot after all. It reappears in the account for the carriage of the new bells, so that it was evidently sent off somewhere." Op. cit., 439. 120 YHE CHURCH BELLS ()F L ANCASHIRE. The following may be quoted:- 1765, April 9. Resolved that the three Bells ... be taken down and disposed to the best advantage, and that a Peal or Ring of six bells (the largest of which not exceeding 8 hundredweight) be hung up in ye steeple . . . A rate to be laid for that part of the expen ~e which cannot be defrayed by subscriptions . . . and that the sub scriptions to 0be paid to the Bellfounder when the bells are hung and the remainder twelve months after the first payment.I Something, however, seems to have been done at the bells a year or so before, as there are items for taking down and carriage in 1763-4. The cost of the new ring is thus set out: " October ye 21st 1765 The Particulars of l\Ir Harrison ye Bellfounders Bill. Paid to him for six new Bells, 36c. 3. 7 at £6 4s. p.C 228 - 4 - 6 Materials and H a nging 49 - 0- 0 Clock mending and a ltering 2 - 10 - 0 a Rope ls. Oil and Tallow 13~d . 0 - 2- 1! Wire 15d Candles fo r ye ringers 6d 0- 1 - 9 Boards and other wood for Chambers 0 - 7 - 6 £281 - 9 - 10 ~ P aid for carriage o f the bells from Preston to Hawkshead 4-11- 5 £286 - 1 - 3 Against this the Churchwardens for the year 1766 presented an account of the cash received from the old materials, subscriptions, and Church Rates, towards paying for the bells:- To Cash discounted with Mr. Harrison p. two old Bells £42 - 1 - 8 T o Cash for Mr. Irton old Bell 24 - 19 - 5 To Cash p subscriptions 107 - 4 - 0 To Cash p Church R ates £24 each Qr. 96 - 0 - 0 £270 - 5 - Subsequently (1768) another Church Rate of £4 on each quarter of the Parish was levied, amounting to £16, 1. Cowper, Hawkshead, 442. THE CHURCH HELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 121 which made up the total receipts to £286 5s. ld., leaving a balance in hand of 3s. lOd. At a Vestry Meeting held on January 4, 1766, the salaries of the ringers and times of ringing were fixed:- Resolv ed that an annual Sallery of three pounds three shillings be raised by rate for the six Bell ringers to be payed in equal sums to the said Bell ringers on the first Monday in every November. That the said Bell ringers shall begin to ring every Sunday Morning at half an hour past nine o'clock at ye latest, & shall continue ringing till ye Bell toll for divine service to begin. That they shall ring for a quarter of an hour at the least, beginning immediately after divine service is ended. That they shall ring the greatest part of the three following festivals, namely on Christmas day, on the King's Accession to the Throne, a nd on the Papists Conspiracy.I IRE LETH. ST. MARY. One bell. This is one of Naylor, Vickers and Co.'s patent cast steel bells, from their foundry at Sheffield, 24 in. diameter, hung with iron wheel in turret on north side of the church, between chancel and nave. The surface of the metal is very much flaked and the inscription almost illegible. It is also very difficult to get a sight of as the bell is approached from below by a ladder and occupies almost the whole space between the walls of the turret. The words " Naylor" and· " Patent" can, however, be made out. The present building was erected in 1865 and the bell, which is now cracked, is probably of that date. The seventeenth century chapel, which was pulled down in 1863, stood on another site. It had a west bell turret containing a single bell, which was "without name or date, probably a ship's bell."2 In 1902 it was at Longlands Mines, without a clapper and disused.3 Date of visit, October 11, 1922. ------·----·-- -- -·------I. Cowper, op. cit., 442. 2. Pro . Barrow Nat. Fld. Club, xvii, 55. 3. Ibid. After the demolition of old Ireleth Chapel the bell was for a time at Millwood, the residence of E. Wadham, Esq., near Barrow, but finally was sent to Longlands. 122 THE CHURCll BELLS OF L1NC11SHIRE. KIRKBY IRELETH. ST. CUTHBERT. Six bells. 1. AS THY DAY SO SHALL THY STRENGTH BE (26! in. diam.) 2. .: 1831 :· (27 in. diam.) 3. ·: 1831 :. (28! in. diam.) 4. ·: 1831 :· (29 in. diam.) 5. GOD SAVE THE CHVRCH: OUR KING: AND REALME: AND SEND VS PEACE IN CHRIST AMEN * (34 in. diam.) 6. CAST BY WILLIAM DOBSON, DOWNHAM, NOR.FOLK, 1831. (36 in. diam.) Hung in iron frame in west tower, and rung from chamber on first floor. Originally a ring of five cast in 1831 by William Dobson, of Downham Market, Nor folk. In 1908 a treble .was added and the old fourth (present fifth) recast by John Taylor and Co., of Lough borough, who at the same time rehung the bells. The two new bells have Messrs. Taylor's circular trade-mark on the waist, together with the date, and below the inscription an ornamental border. All six bells are bolted through the crown to iron headstocks-the old ones having been so altered at the time of rehanging. William Dobson succeeded to the foundry of Thomas Osborne at Downham in 1806, and was casting there till 1833. He cast a number of bells for Lancashire churches. 1552 : fyve belles and thre hande bells . . . belongyng to the said p'sh. churche. The history of Kirkby Ireleth bells has been written by the late Mr. Harper Gaythorpe in the Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archa:ological Society, 1902, 1 from which the following 1. New series, vol. ii, pp. 286-95. " Church Bells in the Archdeaconry of Furness," a paper read August 29, 1901. THE CH URCH BELLS OF L ANCASllIRE. 123 account is, in the main, taken. The story is, in places, a little obscure, the statements made at times by local writers not always agreeing. It has been questioned whether all the five bells mentioned in the Edwardian Inventory hung in the tower of the church, but I see no reason for assuming that the bells belonging to the chapels of Broughton and Seathwaite were included in the Kirkby Ireleth return. However that may be, there appear to have been only three bells at Kirkby in the middle of the seventeenth century. According to a writer in the North Lonsdale Mag azine (September 1866) the tower of Kirkby Church fell in the year 1657, when the bells were ringing for 1 morning service. " At this time," he says, " there were three bells, two of which were broken with the fall." One of the broken bells is said to have been sold to Dalto n, and the other was afterwa rds (1681) recast and placed in a turret along with the unbroken bell. This turret, or bell-cote, took the place of the fallen tower, and the two bells continued to hang in it until it, in its turn, fell down. At what precise date this occurred is not clear. According to one writer2 it was " some years before '' the present tower was built in 1829, and the parish clerk informed Mr. Gaythorpe in 1901 that the old tower (turret) was said to have lain in ruins for years and that people walked over it to church. On the other hand the overseers' accounts for the two years ending June 1828 contain payments for " two bell chains," and for repairing one of the oaken headstocks, the gudgeons of which were loose. The bell chains then hung outside the church, the bells being rung from the churchyard. It would' seem therefore that the turret was standing ~s late as 1828. 1. Quoted by Mr. Gaythorpe, p. 287. The writer was a Mr. Edward Cowend. The source of his information is not stated. " So far,'' wrote Mr. Gaythorpe in 1901, " I find no other evidence that a tower ever existed at Kirkby Ireleth before 1829. " 2. Dr. Barber in North L onsdale Magazine, July 1866. 1:24 THE CHUHCH BELLS OF L!INCASllIRE. Of the two bells which hung in the turret, that cast in 1681 was sent to Mr. Dobson, the founder, at Downham, in part payment of the new bells supplied by him, and no doubt it went into the melting pot.1 The other, which was an inscribed m edi~ val bell of great interest, was, according to Dr. Barber, "placed in a small turret temporarily erected, until the funds necessary for the building of the tower were forthco.ming." The tower was built in 1829, and until the new bells were hung in 1831 this single bell may have been in use, though it is generally said to have remained in the churchyard till it disappeared and all traces of its existence forgotten. Mr. Harper Gaythorpe, who devoted much time to the investigation of the history of this bell, gives the follow ing account of its later fortunes:- After the new peal of bells was obtained in 1831 the old bell lay in the churchyard a mong the nettles until the year 1844. i\t that time Mr. James Tyson occupied the blacksmith's shop adjoining the churchyard and near the Punch Bowl Inn. One of his workmen, then about forty years of age, wanted some charcoal iron and asked my informant, then a boy of fourteen, to help him one night to get the ironwork off the bell. Turning over the bdl the cla pper hit the side, so he got it out first, and then removed the iron straps, etc. The headstock and the bell were left in tlw churchya rd '1 mong the nettles. . . A.bout two or three weeks afterwards my informant was surprised to find the old bell had gone ; and it wns his opinion that, after the bell was reduced in bulk by removing the partly rotten headstock, straps and cla1>per, the workman had disposed of it to some potters or gipsies who came round with their carts and had been to Kirkby a short time before. One person could not lift the bell. It would be about 20 inches diameter, 18 inches high, and weighed about 2 cwt., but he could not rPcollcct if thl're ""'r" any inscri ption on it.2 In 1851 an inscription " in antique charac.ters, almost resembling Anglo-Saxon runes," and purporting to be copied from a bell at Kirkby Ireleth, was shown at an 1. Gaythorpe, op. cit., 289. Dr. Barber says that the larger of the two bells " was removed to Dalton because they had nowhere in Kirkby lre!Pt h to >tispcncl it. " If this is corre.ct, it must refer to the time betwPr-n thP fall of the turret and the ordering of the new bells, 1828-30. 2. Gaythorpc, op. cit .. 292. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 125 exhibition in Ulverston amongst other relics and curiosities of the district.1 The inscription was sub mitted to :VIr. Thomas vVright, F.S.A., who expressed the opinion that the characters were " merely fanciful forms of Roman letter,s '' and suggested a somewhat fanciful interpretation.2 The copy exhibited at Ulver ston had been made by someone.entirely unfamiliar with medi~val letters and was obviously far from correct. The so-called " runes," or " fanciful Roman letters," seem to have been an ignorant effort to copy Lombardic characters of late fourteenth or early fifteenth century date. The inscription was almost certainly an invoca tion of the Blessed Virgin. It was deciphered by the Rev. Francis Evans, of Ulverston, as HOC + SANCTA + MARIAH ORA PRO NOBIS, but Mr. Gaythorpe, in commenting on this, says '' the letter H at the beginning of the copy inscription and after Maria may well be omitted, and in place of the H after Maria there would be a cross." Whatever the explanation of some of the oddities of this so-called " copy," there can I think be little doubt that the inscription followed the ordinary invocatory formula, + SJlttCtJI + mJIRIJI -:- ORJI + PRO -:- ttOBIS If the approximate dimensions referred to above are any thing like correct, then we should hm1 e a bell of about the same diameter as that at Broughton though greater in height-in shape more like that at Colton.3 Below the inscription was a " grotesque figure having the head of a lamb with the body of an ass, " 4 possibly a founder's mark. As this figure is not shown in the 1. North Lons. Mag., 1866, p. 14. 2. " Hie senate (us) mcrleho de pro nobis," the reference being to the senate or elders of the lordship. Ibid, 15. 3. Dr. Raven, referring to the Kirkby bell, describes it as " recast," no doubt a slip due to faulty information (Bells of T~ngland, 184). 4. North Lons. Maf!., Sept. 1866. 126 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. reproduction' of the copy exhibited at Ulverston it seems to me of little use to suggest a reconstruction : this, how ever has been attempted.2 The disappearance of this bell before it had been properly noted is deeply to be deplored. From an entry in the Vestry Book it seems originally to have heen intended that both the old bells should be offered to Dobson in part payment for the new ring : actually only one was sent. vVriting in 1901, seven years before Dobson's ring had been restored and augmented, Mr. Gaythorpe stated that the then fourth bell had not been rung since 1888, its wheel being broken. The second had been silent since 1891. The tenor and third were at that time rung for morning and evening service on Sunday for 15 minutes and then chimed for 10 or 12 minutes. The third was afterwards rung for 3 or 5 minutes till the vicar left the vestry. The third was also rung on week days for service at 9-15 or 10-30 a.m. Later rules (1909) give the hours of Sunday ringing as 9-55 to 10-30 a.m., and 5-25 to 6 p.m. In 1840 (October 31) it was agreed that the ringers be paid out of the Church Rate. How long the ringing of the full peal was continued is not clear. It must have fallen into disuse somewhere about 1870, for Mr. Gaythorpe in 1901 wrote that it was thirty years, except during 1884 (when a set of ringers was got together), since the five bells were rung. The following Ringing Customs are recorded:- It was formerly the custom for the five bells to be rung on Christmas morning before the breakfast which was provided for the 1. In Trans. Cumb. and West. Ant. and Arch. Soc., New Ser., ii, 291. 2. Mr. Gaythorpe suggested that the figure was the Golden Fleece : " If so, this bell could not have been cast before 1430, the date of the foundation of the Order. " The Rev. H. A. Fielden thought it might be a rebus for the name Haslam, or Lamas (now Lomas), both local names: Op cit., 292. But all reconstruction must be conjectural. THE CHURCH BELLS OF L.4.NCASllIRE. 127 Ringers at the Punch Bowl. O nly two bells are now (1901) rung on Christmas morning from 5 to 7 o'clock, and 2s. is given instead of the breakfast. On receiving notice of a funeral, the clerk tolls the tenor bell twelve or fourteen strokes for a m an, the same number of strokes on the fourth bell for a wom::in, and similarly on the third bell for young women or children up to 14 or 15 years of age, and on the first bell for small children. The tenor bell is also tolled as a funeral procession a1>pears in sight of the church, a nd, afterwards, when the mourners come to the grave t he same bell is tolled again until the vicar returns from the service , and it ceases when he goes into the vestry. I The present tower, as already stated, dates only from 1829. The upper stage was rebuilt in 1903. There is no stairway, access to the bell-chamber being by fixed ladders. The bells and chamber are in excellent order.2 A clock strikes the hours on the tenor. There is a set of eight handbells. A set of rules (typed), fourteen in number, is dated April 1909. LINDA LE. ST. PAUL. One bell. 1. T. MEARS OF LONDON FECIT On waist: THE GnACE OF oun Lono. TIME DEUM. A PQESENT BY THOS HOLME MAUDE ESQll 1828. (21-! in. diam.) Hung in west tower and chimed by lever from floor of church. Cannons a nd headstock. No stairway or fixed ladder. Access by trap-door. The present church dates from 1828, taking the place of an olq.er rectangular building which had a west bell cote containing one bell. This old bell, which is believed to have belonged originally to Cartmel Priory Church, 1. Trans. Gumb. and West. Ant. and Arch. Soc., New Ser. ii, 294-5. Written in 1901 before the ring was increased to six. 2. Date of visit, August 20, 1920. 128 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. is said to have been " sold as part payment " for the new bell in 1828.1 The inscription, however, would imply that the bell was a gift to the church by Mr. Maude. The story told of the old bell is, that after lying disused for some time at Cartmel it "was sold, with other discarded church property, and at length came into the possession of John Wilkinson (the ironmaster), of Castlehead, who used it to summon his workmen." Wilkinson died in 1808 and on the dispersion of his property the bell is said to have been purchased for Lindale Church.2 Enquiry locally has so far failed to confirm these statements, and I give them for what they are worth. Lindale was a chapelry of Cartmel, probably of pre Reformation date. LOWICK. ST. LUKE. Three bells. 1. 7320. (23 in. diam.) 2. VICKEllS SONS & co LIMITED SHEFFIELD 1885 PATENT CAST STEEL 7291. (24 in. diam.) 3. The same, but No. 7341. (25 in. diam.) Hung in iron and timber frame in west tower. Iron wheels. Rung from chamber on first Hoor. The second and third have the Royal Arms above the word Patent. The treble is also a Sheffield steel bell, but is of a different type, 3 and except for the number, is blank. The present church was erected in 1885. The former chapel had been rebuilt in 1817. In 1707 there was "a bell, " 4 but that which hung in the chapel at the time of its demolition was dated 1716. 1. Kirby, Rural Deanery of Cartmel, p. 69. 2. Ibid, 69. 3. The crown is bolted to an iron headstock. 4. Chapelwardcn's repli es to Visitation enquiries, cited in V.C.H. Lanes., viii, 362. THE CllURCJ-l BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. rn.1 It was then sent to St. Matthew's Church, Barrow-in Furness, and hung there till 1901, when it was recast by John Taylor and Co., of Loughborough.1 A plaster cast of the date tigures, now in the Barrow Museum, indicates that this bell was almost certainly by Ralph Ashton, of Wigan, as they are similar in every way to those on the bell cast by him for P ennington (q.v.) three years later. Lowick was a chapelry of the parish of Ulverston. Date of visit, August 18, 1920. PENNINGTON. ST. MICHAEL. Two bells. l. · lohn · Bainbridge · William · Fell t 719 · Below inscription band: R (hell) A \ (hell) Wiggan (bell) I (18 in. diam.) 2. I L 1685 (19 in. diam.) Hung in west tower and chimed, with wheels, from porch below. Both have wooden headstocks. The first has cannons; the second is bolted through crown to headstock. The first is by Ralph Ashton, of \Vigan, and bears his mark of a bell between the initials R .A., together with the word " Wiggan " between two bells on a separate stamp 4in. Jong. The inscription is in Ashton's characteristic "lower-case" type, the words separated by heart-shaped stops. The inscription space is made out with inverted cresting. The second is the work of an unknown founder, as to whose identity l can offer no suggestion. The initials l L may possibly refer to the maker, but are more likely I. The new bdl at St. Matthew's, Barrow, is 23 in . diameter and weighs 2 cwt. 1 qr. 10 lbs. It is inscribed " 1716 Recast 1901. Gloria in Excelsis Dco." Information from Yressrs. Taylor & Co. 130 THE CH URCH BELLS OF L ANCASHIR E. those of a benefactor, the donor of the bell, or church warden. They are not those of the incumbent, and the wardens' accounts do not begin till long after. No stairway or fixed ladder: access to bell-chamber by trap-door in porch. Date of visit, August 13, 1920. RAM PSI DE. ST. MICHAEL. One bell. 1. · The gift of Iohn Gardner to St Michalls Chappell Sep~ 26th 1739 (17 in. diam.) Hung in west tower and chimed by lever from floor of church. Cannons a nd wooden headstock. Though not bearing any founder's name or mark, this bell is by Luke Ashton, of Wigan, the lettering being im his characteristic " lower-case " type, with an initial hea rt-shaped stop, and another after and above the word " Michalls." The inscription goes right round the bell, with the date "Sep'· 26' 11 1739" below, immediately under the words " gift of John Gardner." No stairway or fixed ladder: access to bell-chamber by trap-door. R ampside was originally a chapel of the parish of Dalton. It became an independent parish in 1887. Date of visit, August 14, 1920. RUSLAND. ST. PAUL. One bell. 1. I: SCALES. 1752. H: W. RUSLAND CHURCH. (22! in. diam.) Hung in west tower and chimed by lever from floor below. Cannons and wooden headstock. The bell was rehung in 1889. The inscription is in a rather refined Roman lettering, differing somewhat from types usually met with. THE CHUR CH BELLS OF L.4.NCASHlRE. 131 There is no ornament or maker's mark of any kind. Possibly a local casting, but if so, better than most. Rusla nd was a chapel in Colton parish. The pre sent church dates only from 1868, with the exception of the lower part of the tower which belongs to the original building erected in 1745. The use of the word "church" on the bell, seven years after the erection of the chapel, is to be remarked. A district chapelry was assigned in 1844. J. Scales was probably the chapelwarden. I have been unable to identify H. W. D ate of visit, August 12, 1920. SATTERTHWAITE. One bell. 1. W !bell) E 1737 (15 in. diam.) Hung between joists on north side of west tower. Cannons and wooden headstock. Chimed by lever from floor of church. The initials are those of vVilliam Evans, bellfounder, of Chepstow, Monmouthshire, who had cast the second bell for Cartmel (q.v.) eight years before. The inscrip tion space is made out with running ornaments. The original chapel was a plain rectangular building with west bell-cote, 1 in which the present bell hung for nearly a hundred years. The chapel was rebuilt and a tower added in 1835. It was remodelled in 1915. No stairway or fixed ladder: access to bell-chamber by trap-door. Satterthwaite was a chapelry of the parish of Hawks head. Date of ·visit, October 10, 1922. ------1. There is a rough sketch of Satterthwaite as it was in 1777 in The H istoTy of the .4ntiquities of Furness, by Willi am F ell, aged 11, edi ted by L. R . Ayre, 1887, p. 25 . 132 THE CHuRCJJ HELLS OF L ,INCASI-IIRE. SEATHWAITE. H OLy TRINITY. One bell. Hung with wheel in bell-cote over west gable and rung from floor of church. Formerly the bell was rung from the outside. The bell (20~ in. diam.) is a recasting by John Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, in 1881, of a bell cast fifty three years before. This bell bore the inscription ROBERT CASSON CHURCI-rw ARDEN 1828. Seathwaite was at that time a chapel of the ancient parish of Kirkby lreleth, becoming a separate parish only in 1886. ·when the chapel was being rebuilt in 1874-5 this bell was hung to the branch of a tree and was cracked while being sounded by a mason, who struck it with a hammer .1 Hence its recasting in 1881. Of the bell in use before 1828 no record seems to have been kept, thoug h the metal is said to have been used in the new bell. The Rev. R. Parkinson, writing of Sea thwaite as it was about 1796, says : - The little chapel-bell of Seathwaite was sending forth its sharp sound, not much louder than a mountain cuckoo, but still distinctly enough to be heard throughout the whole reg ion in that still a nd silent air. . . The belt was not much lnrger than a sheep bell, but it was obeyed by all the llock with a readiness which showed how anxious they all were to be included within the fold of the Good Shepherd -of their souls.2 The chapel at this time was a plain rectangular build ing with a west bell-cote.3 The R ev. Robert Walker (" Wonderful Walker ") was curate here from 1735 to 1802. Mr. Harper Gaythorpe, in 1901, wrote:- The old bell of 1828 was always considered by the Seathwaite folks to have a tone superior to the bell at Ulpha.4 It could be heard at Moor H ouse, about half-\\'ay between Seathwaitc and Ulpha when 1. Trans. Gumb. a11d West . Ant. and Arch. Soc., New Series, ii, 304. 2. The Old Church Clock (1843), p. 79. 8. It is figured in The Old Church Clock, op. p. 49. 4. Ulpha is about Z~ m. in a straight line to the south-west, on the Cumberland side of the Duddon. THE CHURCH BELLS OF L !INCASHIRE. 133 the Ulpha bell could not ... Formerly " Ringing the Year " seems to have been a regular institution, this being done a t Christmas and Easter. At Christmas time the parishioners passing the chapel gave the -bell-rope a pull. l ST A VELEY. ST. MARY. One bell. 1. Blank. (15 in. diam.) Hung in west tower and chimed by wooden lever from ground floor. Cannons and wooden headstock. There is no " inscription band," but the bell is moulded round the crown and above the rim. No stairway or fixed ladder: access by trap-door. Staveley was a chapel of the parish of Cartmel. The present structure is a rebuilding of 1678, restored in 1896-7. Date of visit, August 12, 1920. TORVER. ST. LUKE. One bell. 1. Vine leaf border On waist: HOATHWAITE THE GIFT OF J. W . H . BARRATT A.D. 1908 (32 in. diam.) On the other side of the waist is the circular mark of the founders JOHN TAYLOR & co. LOUGHBOROUGH. Hung in iron frame in central tower, and rung by wheel from north vestry. The vine leaf border fills the whole of the " insc1)ption space." Hoathwaite is the name of the principal holding of Mr. Barratt in the parish. The inscription is in the Gothic type used by the same founders on the Field Broughton bell.2 1. Trans. Cumb. and West . .1n t. and Arch. Soc., New Series, ii, 305. The rope then hung outside the buildi·ng. 2. Supra p. 113. 134 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. The present church dates only from 1884, but takes the place o.f one rebuilt in 1849. The original structure seems to have been of early sixteenth century date. In 1538 a licence was granted for the consecration of the chapel in which the inhabitants were then accustomed to hear mass.1 The building had a west tower sjmilar to that at Cartmel Fell Chapel. The bell displaced in 1908 stood on the floor at the west end of the church till 1914, when it was placed in a r·ecess in the outer wall of the schoolhouse facing the highway. It is without clapper and is hung dead, being struck with a hammer worked from inside the school. This bell is 21! in. diameter2 a nd bears only the date " 1730," the rest of the inscription space being made out with a running border, composed of separate 7 in. stamps each one bearing the impression of a bell and three trefoil leaves (?shamrocks). There are no makers' marks or initials, but ·the following extract3 from the chapelwardens' accounts shows that the bell came from 4 Dublin :- 1730. For the n ewe Bell in weight 252 pounds cast in Dublin and for stocking there of besides the old Bell 16 - 4 - 10 The price paid was obtained by a " sess," or rate, levied equally upon the parish. Tarver was formerly a chapel of the parish of Ulver ston. It was declared a rectory in 1866. D ate of vi sit, October 15, 1920. 1. V.C.H. Lanes., viii, 364. 2. The dia meter is given wrongly as 14 in. in Pro. Barrnw Nat. Fld. Club, xvii, 130. 3. T aken from Lea'iles from the .4 nnals of a Mountain Parish in Lakeland, 1888, by Rev. T. E. Ellwood, p. 41. 4. The Great Bell at Crosthwaite, Cumberland, was recast at Dublin in 1714. It was shipped at Whitehaven. See Trans. Gumb. · and West. Ant. and Arch. Soc., viii, 48. THE CHURCH BELLS OF L!l.NCASHIRE. 135 ULVERSTON. ST. MARY. Six bells. 1-6. THOMAS MEARS OF LONDON FOUNDER 1836. In addition each bell bears a n inscription, as below, those on the fifth and tenor being on the waist, the others immediately below the inscription band. I. THOS RICHMOND GALE BRADDYLL PATRON & LAY RECTOR D.D. L50 (29 in. diam.) 2. RICHARD GWILLYM M.A. MINISTER (31 in. diam.) 3. JOHN DOBSON OBllT 1782 T.R. L50. (33! in. diam.) 4. JOHN BOLTON D.D. L20 (34! in. diam.) 5. COMMITTEE JOHN SUNDERLAND M.A. W~ GALE. JOHN FELL BERNARD GILPIN. W~ POSTLETHWAITE. THO~ TOLMING. PHILIP B. DEAN. IUCHD ROPER. HENRY REMINGTON. JAMES HODGSON. JAMES CLEMINSON. (38 in. diam.) 6. JOHN PENNY } JOHN PARKER CHURCH WARDENS. JAMES PARKE (42 in. diam.) Hung in timber frame in west tower. A complete ring by Thomas Mears II, of the Whitechapel Foundry, London. Rehung by J. Taylor and Co. Iron head stocks. The notes and approximate weights are given as follows : - 1. 5! cwt. approx. Note D sharp 2. 6 C sharp 3. 7 B 4. 8 A sharp 5. 10 G sharp 6. 13 F sharp 136 THE CllUNCH BELLS OF L1INCASHIRE. Col. T. R. G. Braddyll, whose name is on the first bell as a donor of £50, succeeded his father at Conishead Priory in 1818, and built the present mansion of that name in 1821-36. The Rev. R. Gwillym was Vicar of Ulverston from 1834 to 1868. 1552. The Inventory (as printed) gives plate and vestments but there is no mention of bells. c 1740 Browne Willis gives five bells at Ulverston. The history of the Ulverston bells prior to 1836 is some what obscure. Browne Willis, as quoted above, men tions five bells, but as early as 1710 two bells are mentioned as being burst and a third cracked. The bishop at this time censured the churchwardens for "very great neglect." 1 From the payments made for ringing on special occasions in the middle of the eighteenth century it would seem that not more than three bells were then generally in use-but this is, of course, only a conjecture. The Rev. C. W. Bardsley says that in 1836, when the new bells were purchased, only one of the old bells remained, but he has no reference to the fate of the others. The present ring of six was purchased two years after Mr. Gwillym's appointment as vicar. The cost was £800, but "the gift was practically Mr. Gwillym's, for the money collected was originally intended for a new vicarage, but at his urgent request it was thus diverted."2 The amount already in hand for the vicarage does not, however, seem to have covered the whole cost of the bells, for a letter from Sir John Barrow, quoted by Bardsley, shows that an appeal had been issued for sub scriptions for the new bells. 1. Bardsle y, Chronicles of the Town and Church of T.llverston, 1885, p. 134. 2. Ibid, 134. THE CHURCH JJELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 137 URSWICK. ST. MARY. Three bells. 1. Henry · Houlme · Vicor · Iames Shaw · Iohn · Conskell · Church · Wardens · 1724 On waist: RECAST 1907 (28 in. diam.) 2. I : FLEMING R: BRIGGS W: TOMSON CH. WARDENS 1711 (32 in.diam.) 3. maria + Wl£€£mus n€ fiJIRJnGton nommus i>€ Jl£i)Jlt61)Jlffi + €t nommJI mJIR6JIR€tJI UXOR €1US (33! in. diam.) Hung in west .tower. Rehung in iron frame by John Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, in 1907, at the time of the recasting of the treble. The tenor preserves its cannons and has a wooden headstock, but the treble and second are bolted through the crowns to modern iron headstocks. The former timber frame had room for a fourth bell, and four was the number of bells in the tower named in the Edwardian Inventory. 1552 : two bells . .. one hnnd bell .. two other bells being in the steple not mencyonid in the first Inventoryc. The churchwardens had long been broken.1 The reproduction of the inscrip tion in facsimile is due to the foresight of the vicar, the Rev. T. N. Postlethwaite. The Rev. Henry Houlme, or Holme, was Vicar of U rswick from 1714 till his death in 1747. SECOND. The second bell is almost certain1y by Abraham Rudhall, who cast the treble at Aldingham in this same year. The type of lettering is that used at the Gloucester foundry, but Rudhall's initials are absent. The fact that the wardens' names and the date occupy the whole of the inscription space may possibly account for the omission. The cannons, removed in 1907, were ornamented with a cabled pattern similar to that on the cannons of the Aldingham treble, another reason for presuming that the two bells are by the same maker. Reference has been made (p. 81) to the sugges tion that the Aldingham bell was cast at Kendal. The same claim is made for the U rswick second, and it is of course not unlikely that both bells were cast at the same time and place. In support of the Kendal claim Mr. Gaythorpe says that two bells at Brigham church, Cumberland, both dated 1711, were cast by A. Rudhall, or one of his foremen, at Kendal.2 and he quotes Tyssen on the Brigham bells as follows : In olden times Kendal church had certain workshops and out buildings connected with it ... Amongst other things it poss.essed a bell-house, which was let out (when not required for Church purposes) to one of the parishioners. The house was used for the repair of the clock and bells. Perhaps A. Rudhall had several orders 1. Mr. Harper Gaythorpe wrote of the original bell in 1900: " The cannons are shaped like those of the other two bells, but three of the original pieces have a fluted pattern on the edges, while three are made of iron and badly rusted. These are fixed and kept in position with nuts screwed on inside the crown. About fifty years ago the cannons were found to be broken. The parishioners objected to have them repaired fearing the tone would be altered." Furness Lore, 101. 2. Furness Lore, 102. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 13!> to execute for Cumberland and Westmorland and chose Kendal as a central place where to set up a temporary foundry, where he recast the Brigham bells.I The height of the bell is 26 inches. TENOR. This is a mediceval bell of more than usual interest, bearing, as it does, the names of Sir William Harrington of Aldingham, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir John Hill, of Exeter. Sir William, who was lord of the manor of Aldingham (later Muchland) died in 1458 and was buried at Conishead Priory. The bell is mentioned in a sixteenth century memorandum, now in the British Museum,2 the original of which was no doubt written as a record of benefactions to Conis head Priory in one of the books of that house, and copied by the writer of the manuscript in the British Museum. After reciting a number of gifts by Sir William Harrington and his wife, including many sets of vestments, there is named the " great bell in the tower upon which the names of the said William and Margaret are written. " 3 This testimony sufficiently proves that the U rswick bell was one of those which at the time of the Dissolution hung in the central tower of Conishead Priory Church (q.v.), and removes any doubt that quite legitimately may have till recently obtained. The character of the lettering (see facsimile) is rather unlike what one would expect oo a bell cast presumably I. Furness Lore, 102. 2. Adel. MS. 38133, f36cl. For a copy of this memorandum I am indebted to Mr. J. Brownbill. M.A. It has since been printed in full in Trans. Historic Soc. Lanes . and Chcsh., vol. 74 (1922), p. 153. 3. "Et pro maxima in campanili ja except super noi'a p'dcorum Will'i et Margarete sunt scripta." In a footnote Mr. Brownbill offers as an emendation " una excepta super qu am nomina," which would mean " the greatest bell but one," i.e., the second bell. The Vicar, in accepting this as probably the correct reading, writes : " I surmise that the wardens .bought two bells from Conishead-the greatest and the Harrington bell. The old empty bell-pit was four inches wider than that of the H arrington bell. This larger bell may have been crack.ed and sold to Dalton at the time of one of their recastings." 140 THE CHUUCJJ HELLS UF LA NCASlllllE. about the middle of the fifteenth century. The word " .Maria " alone, which is placed by itself above the inscription band, is in black-letter or Gothic miniscules such as were generally in use at this period. For the inscription proper a refined Lombardic alphabet is used, each letter and stop being on a separate stamp or patera. The inscription occupies two lines each with an 'initial cross patonce. On either side of the first cmss, preced ing and ending the upper line of the inscription is a letter S, used apparently as a stop or ornament.1 Each line of the inscription goes fully round the bell, the crosses serving both as initials and terminals. The word '' Maria '' is immediately above the upper cross. There is no founder's mark, but low down on the waist, just above the sound bow, is a heart-shaped shield, 3tin. high, with the arms of Harrington-sable fretty argent. This bell happily retains its cannons-" six pieces of metal each 1! in. thick and 2 in. wide joined together and cast on."2 Exclusive of the cannons the height of the bell is 30 in., and the diameter near the shoulder 18! in. How this bell was acquired by U rswick Church is nowhere recorded, but it was probably purchased soon after 1552. There is a local belief, or tradition, that at one time (date not stated, but probably in early eighteenth cen tury) one of the U rswick bells was given to, or stolen by, the Vicar of Dalton.3 There would seem to be no corroboration of this report, but its truth is by no means unlikely. Tt would explain the empty bell-pit (see note supra). 1. The S was at one time commonly used a s a distinction between words. 2. Furness Lore, p. 100. 3. R ev. T. N . Postlf' tlrn·a ite in Trans. C1tmb. and West. Ant. and Arch. S oc., :-J r· w Ser., vi, 200. Fnrness L o·rt', 102. 1f the story is true it accounts for the di sappearance of the fourth bell. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 141 The existing Churchwardens' Accounts unfortunately do not begin till the year 1810. Rr:- 1. Kindly communicated in 1920 by Rev. T. N. Postlethwaite, vicar. 2. Trans. Cu.mb. and !Vest. !ln.t. aHd Arch. Soc., New SPr., vi, 200. 3. " Some ten or t\\·01v0 wnrs n~o," nrrorcling to 1\Ir. H. Gaythorpe in 1900 : Furness Lore, 103. 142 111E CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. minutes duration is rung. Then close on the half hour the Harring ton Belli rings ting-ting-ting-ting until the minister leaves the vestry and enters the reading desk, which is called ringing in. This was formerly called the Priest's Bell.2 Before 1854, when Bardsea formed part of U rswick parish, the funerals from the village (Bardsea) na turally came to Urswick. It was the custom of the mourners when they reached the top of the H agg, in sight of the church, to begin singing a Psalm, the melody of the chant being accompanied by the tolling of the Har rington bell in the valley bclow.3 WALNEY. ST. MARY. One bell. 1. VICKERS SONS & co LIMITED SHEFFIELD 1872 PATENT CAST STEEL 5777. (about 40 in. diam.) This bell was acquired from Messrs. Vickers Limited, Barrow-in-Furness, in the year 1920 for the new church. It had previously been in use by the Company, and lay in the churchyard for more than a year, being raised in its present position in 1922. A crown above the word "Patent." The foundation stone of the new church was laid October 11, 1907, and the consecration took place October 3, 1908. The building, however, is yet (1923) incomplete, only the chancel, transepts, and three bays of the nave having been built. There is to be a bell turret at the north-east angle of the north transept, the lower part of which alone is yet built. The bell is for the present hung stationary on the top of the unfinished turret above the roof. It is struck by means of a rope l. Presumably the treble is meant. A 33 ~ in. bell would hardly ring .. ting-ting." 2. H. Gaythorpe in Furness Lore, 103. 3. Rev. T. N. Postlethwaite, Some Notes on Urswick Church and Parish, 1906, p. 43. THE CHURCH BELLS OF L .4NC.-1SHIRE. 143 attached to the clapper manipulated by a lever arrange ment in the transept below. It was thought to be too heavy for swinging without damage to the wall beneath. The bell discarded in 1922, which previously hung in the same position, is now (1923) in the churchyard. It is a plain bell, 20! inches in diameter, the surface of which is very much corroded and rusted, but apparently one of Vickers, Sons & Co.'s steel bells, similar to the treble at Lowick (q.v.) with a number only. The num ber appears to be 8477, but may be 3477. It is hardly distinguishable. The bell is clapperless, and is attached to one iron bar in place of headstock. The new church stands close to the old one on its north side, but the old church is to be pulled down and its site used for burial purposes.1 It dates only from 1852 and has an octagonal stone bell-turret over the west gable, inaccessible except by ladder from outside. The turret appears to be empty, and I assumed that the bell in use at the new church from 1908 to 1922 was taken from it, but there is some doubt about this. I was unable at the time of my last visit in 1923 to investigate fully. The original Walney chapel was a small rectangular building of Elizabethan date, but it was enlarged and almost entirely rebuilt at the end of the seventeenth century. A tower was added in 1744 at the west end, serving as porch and belfry. It contained one bell. This building was pulled down in 1852. W alney Island formerly formed part of the ancient parish of Dalton-in-Furness. The site of the chapel was opposite Barrow Island, on the south side of the village of N orthscale. The whole of W alney is now included in the County Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. St. Mary's became a parish church in 1899. The population of the· parish has increased at a tremendous l. A faculty for taking down the old church was granted September 5, 1922. 144 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LilNC:lSJ-JIRE. rate since the establishment of Vickerstown, the model town constructed by the Vickers-Maxim Company for their workmen. WOODLAND. ST. JOHN-THE-EVANGELIST. One bell. 1. W ·Stratford · LLD · Commifsary ·of · Richmond . 1744. (18 in. diam.) Hung in bell-cote over west gable and chimed by lever from floor of church. Cannons and wooden headstock. The present church, formerly a chapel of Kirkby lreleth, was built irr 1865, in place of one erected in 1822, itself a rebuilding of a n older chapel. The A rch deaconry of Richmond, which comprised the western part of Yorkshire, north Lancashire, south W estmor la nd, and south Cumberla nd, became part of the new diocese of Chester in 1541. In 1836 the Yorkshire portion passed to the new diocese of Ripon, a nd in 1847 the Furness and Cartmel Rural Deaneries we re attached to the diocese of Carlisle. Kirkby Ireleth, with its chapelries, was thus in the Archdeaconry of Richmond at the time the bell was cast. Though the bell bears no founder's name or initials the evidence of the '' lower-case '' lettering and heart shaped stops shows it to have been cast by Luke Ashton, of Wigan. The initial device of five hearts arranged as shown above occurs also on Ashton's bells at Formby, Melling (West Derby), a nd Rufford. The bell was repaired at Coniston in 1864, after the demolition of the old church, and a new clapper was then provided.1 There is no access except by ladder from the outside and the roof of the building is very steep. I have therefore ------· ------····· 1. Trans. Cumb. and West. Ant. and Arch. Soc., New Ser., ii, 301. The old clapper had fallen out. T/-lk' Cl/URC11 BELLS OF L 11NC1IS HIJU£. 14f> relied on the description given in 1901 by Mr. Gay thorpe.1 The inscription had been rubbed by Mr. J. A. Tyson, of Barrow-in-Furness, and I am assured by the present rector (Rev. J. W. R. Bache, M.A.) that nothing has been done to the bell since Mr. Gaythorpe wrote his description. Dr. William Stratford (1679-1753), Commissary of Richmond, was a nephew of Nicholas Stratford, Bishop of Chester (1689-1707). Stratford was a great bene factor, and probably the bell at Woodland was his gift. He augmented a large number of livings in the arch deaconry and " for several years his charities exceeded the annual protits of his placc ."2 In 1901 the bell was rung "for about ten minutes before service at 10-45 and 6-80. ":l ADDENDA. vVEST DERB\' Hu:-.:rnum. GATEACRE. At the Unitarian Chapel, Gateacre, 1s a bell by Abraham Rudhall I, inscribed COME AWAY MAKE NO DELAY A.R. 1723. The bell was rehung and its position altered in 1885 when the roof of the chapel was raised in order to accom modate a new ceiling. It hangs in a turret on the roof and is difficult of access. I have been unable to inspect it, but the inscription was noted in 1885 by the late Mr. James·Thornely, who left behind him in manuscript a history of the chapel, and has been communicated to me I. Trans. Cu111/J. and West. A11t. imd A-rch. Soc., New Ser., ii, 301. 2. Hunter 's Fun·cral Sermon. In the year .1751 he gave away £939. H e kit p(.rsonal estate value £15,365. H e was buried at Lancaster Parish Chureh, whN<' tlwrc is a ta.blet to his memory. 3. Trans. Cuml>. and West. .1nt. and Arch. Soc., New Ser., ii, 303. 146 THE CHUHCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. by the Rev. Charles Roper, M.A., the present minister.1 Unfortunately the size of the bell is not $tated. The same motto occurs on Rudhall's bells at the Unitarian chapels at Monton (1725) and Rusholme (1718), as well as at the churches of Croston, Euxton and Wigan. Gateacre Chapel dates from the year 1700, and was known formerly as " Little Lee Chapel. " 2 LIVERPOOL. ToxTETH CHAPEL. One bell. At the Ancient Chapel i$ a bell 16i inches· in diameter hung in an octagonal wooden turret over the south-east gable, rung by lever and chain from the inside. Round the shoulder in the usual position, between double bands, is an ornamental border of inverted cresting and the date 1751, and the bell has six cannons attached to a wooden headstock. There is no maker's name or initials, but the numerals composing the date are similar to those used by Luke Ashton, founder, of Wigan,3 and the bell can safely be pronounced as one of his. The whole of the inscription space after the date is made out with the ornamental border. Luke Ashton's bells are fairly numerous in Lancashire, the earliest being one at Heysham, 1723, and the latest that at Lathom Park, 1756. The Ancient Chapel of Toxteth (now Unitarian) is supposed to have been erected about the beginning of the seventeenth century, but was rebuilt in 1774. The bell, therefore, belongs to the original building, but the " tradition " that it was a gift from Oliver Cromwell is 1. Mr. Thorndy says the inscription occurs " round the upper part of the exterior (i.e., the shoulder) together with a crowned head and a spray of foliage resembling an ivy-leaf." A crowned head on n Rudhnll bell would be unusual, and I am tempted to believe that Mr. Thornely thus misread the familiar Gloucester " bell " stamp between the initials. 2. Nightingale, Lanes. Nonconformity, vi, 192. 3. See plate in Trans., xxvii, opp. p. 48 (Wrea Green, and Copp). Photo by f. f. Phelps . S.-\i\'ILESB URY CHURCH: :\IEDIEVAL BELL. CHETHAM'S HOSPITAL, MANCHESTER. (Reproduced by pern1issio11 of the Society of Antiquaries.) THE CIIURCII BELLS OF L .4.NCASIIIRE. 147 disproved by the date of its casting. An earlier bell may, however, have been acquired during the Common wealth period, and the date 1650 occurs on a stone over one of the lower windows.1 LEYLAND HUNDRED. STANDISH. In the turret of the domestic Chapel at Standish Hall, pulled down in 1923, was a hemispherical clock-bell, 18 inches in diameter and 9 inches high, inscribed round the shoulder "R.S. 1743," between double bands. The rest of the inscription space is made out with an ornamental border of inverted cresting. The initials are those of Ralph Standish, who built the chapel in 1742-3, and died about 1752. The bell was struck by a hammer on the outside. It has no maker's name or initials, but from the style of the numerals it appears to be by Luke Ashton, of Wigan.2 In April 1923, when I saw it, the bell was on the premises of a builder m Preston-road, Standish. SALFORD HUNDRED. MANCHESTER. CHETHAM'S HOSPITAL. One bell. It was announced early in June, 1924, that the bell at Chetham's Hospital, " which had long been cracked,"· was to go to Croydon to be recast along with the bells of Manchester Cathedral. On removing the bell from the bell:cote, however, on June 5, it was found to be of quite peculiar interest and well worthy of preservation 1. V. D. Davis, Some Account of the Ancient Chapel of Toxteth, Liverpool (1884), p. 40. The bell is referred to, and ·the " tradition " refuted. 2. The ornamental border is similar to that on the bell at Toxteth Chapel (1751), also apparently by Luke Ashton. H8 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCi!SJJIRE. as a relic. Moreover, further examination of the bel1 'showed that the '' horrid clank '' from which innumer able persons are said to have suffered so long was not caused by the bell being cracked but from the fact that the clapper, having been at some period shortened, struck too high. Provided with a new clapper it is hoped that the bell will perform its duties for many more years. It was decided by the Feoffees on June 6 that the bell should not be sent away. The bell is 18 inches in diameter, and round the shoulder in the usual position, between double bands, is the inscription H. C. 1666 the space being partly made out by a running floral pattern on a stamp 7! inches long. The remainder of the inscription space is blank. Below this blank por tion, on the upper part of the waist are the initials 1W .S. The bell is 14 inches high to the top of the crown, and 19 inches to the top of the cannons. The six cannons are quite plain, but are intact. The initials H.C. no doubt refer to Humphrey Chet ham, founder of the Hospital, who died in 1653. The Colle'ge buildings were purchased by his executors in 1654 and the boys entered into residence in August 1656, but on the reversion of the property to the Countess of Derby after the Restoration a fresh conveyance became necessary. The new charter is dated November 20, 1665, and in the year following the bell was cast, the initials of the pious founder being inscribed upon it. In the absence of any reference to the bell in the minute books of the Hospital it cannot be stated whether it was a recasting or an entirely new one. The initials W.S. are those of William Scott, bell founder, of Wigan, who succeeded his father, Geoffrey Scott, in the business in 1665, 1 and died in 1703. This 1. See Geoffrey Scott's Will quoted by J. P. Earwaker in Hist. Soc. Lanes. and Chcsh., N.S., vi, 173. THE CHURCH BELLS OF UINC.4SHIRE. 149 W .S. mark is of special interest in that it differs from the 1~ stamp used by John and Geoffrey (Jeffrey) Scott between 1646 and 1664 and from the later trade-mark of William Scott himself, which occurs on bells in Lancashire at Bolton-le-Sands, 1694, and Tunstall, 1710 (after his death), and formerly on bell at Broughton-in Preston, 1681. 1 The letters in both sets of initials on the Chetham's Hospital bell are similar to those used by John and Geoffrey Scott,2 and the ornamental border in the inscription space like that on the Hindley bell cast by John Scott in 1646. Clearly vVilliam Scott, when he began casting on his own account, discontinued the use of the old ts trade-mark though retaining the same type of letters fo.r his own initials. How long this first W .S. mark was used it is probably now impossible to say, as so many of vVilliam Scott's bells have been recast, or have otherwise disappeared.3 The new trade mark, in which the letters appear on either side of a bell-stamp, was, however, in use in 1681 at Broughton. Mr. Earwaker says that at 'VVilli a m Scott's death in 1703 it is probable the trade of bell-founding, which had been so long in the Scott family, came to an end,4 as William apparently left no son. But, as we have seen, the treble bell at Tunstall bears William Scott's mark though cast seven years after his death. It would appear, therefore, that the Scott foundry continued its Separate existence for some years after 1703 and turned out bells with the W .S. trade-mark after Ralph Ashton had begun his career. 1. See fascimilcs in Trail s. xxxix, 132 (Rotton), 170 (Tunstall). The Broughton in scription is fi gured in vo) . xxx\"ii, where the bell is wrongly attributed to Wm. Seller. 2. See facsimiles of inscriptions at Hindley, vVarrington (Holy Trinity), Edenfield, St. Michael-on-Wyre, in Trans., vols. xxxii, xxxiii, xxxviii. 3. E.~., the bells cast by him for Bolton-lc-1\foors 1668, Wigan 1677 and 1694, and Wilmslow 1682. 4. H£st. Soc. Lane.<. and Chcsh., N.S., \'i, 176. 150 THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. STAND, Whitefield. At the Unitarian Church, Stand, is a small bell by Henry Penn, of Peterborough, inscribed HENRY PENN MADE ME 1708 which is of especial interest as being the only bell by this founder which I have yet come across in Lancashire.1 It is 15t inches in diameter and hangs in an open wooden cupola over the east gable. lt is rung by a lever and rope from behind the east gallery. The bell has cannons and a long wooden headstock, and the lever also is of wooo. The inscription is in plain block letters, i in. high, round the shouider between rounded mouldings-two above and three below. The original chapel was built in 1693, but was pulled down in 1818, being replaced by the present building, which was opened in April 1819. With the exception of the Communion plate, the bell is the only surviving relic of the old chapel.2 On June 21, 1715, a Jacobite m ob broke into the chapel and did considcra_ble damage. The bell, which they carried off, was brought back again :ind is still rung every Sunday.3 Henry Penn was casting at Peterborough from 1703 till his death in 1729. He cast rings for Ely and Peter borough Cathedrals. BLACKBURN HUNDRED. SAMLESBURY. The two old bells removed in 1899 were restored to the church in the summer of 1923 and placed in the vestry, where I was able to inspect them in October. The second of these bells has already been described (Transactions xxxiv, 57), out the older and more 1. Mr. Beamont stated that a bell by Henry Penn, da ted 1706, formerly hung at H oly Trinity Church, Warrington, but so far all attempts to trace it have failed. See Transactions xxxii, 107. 2. R. Travers Herford, Memorials of Stand Chapel, 1893, p. 50. 3. Hist. Shetc11 of the N.E. Lanes. Unitarian Mission, 1909, p. 129. THE CHURCH BELLS OF LANCASHIRE. 151 interesting one, which at the time of my visit to Samles bury in 1916 was inaccessible, was noted only very briefly and its description held over. Th~ bell is 17 inches in diameter and bears the inscription + CJlmPJIUJI 16€Sll CRIStl in the usual position round the shoulder. The height to the crown is 13i inches, and there were originally six cannons. Three of these, however, are broken off and in their place a long iron staple has been made use of, which passes through two holes in the crown, its ends being attached to a wooden headstock. The weight of the bell and headstock (to which it is fixed) is 140 lbs. There is no record as to when the staple was first used, but it would appear to have been in comparatively recent times. The inscription is between flat mouldings and the letters are of the Lombardic type used in the fourteenth century, to which period (c. 1301-80) the bell may be assigned. The initial cross and each of the letters is on a separate stamp, and between the words are two stops of a type somewhat similar to the stops on the four teenth century bell at Colton, in North Lonsdale, resembling three curved horns pale-wise. The Colton bell being bigger (22 in.), the lettering on it is corre spondingly larger, and its inscription is between triple rounded mouldings of the usual type. The flat square edged bands on the Samlesbury bell are not found on any other medi~val bell in Lancashire, but Mr. H. B. Walters informs me that they occur in a slightly different' form on early London bells. There are no maker's marks or initials on the Samlesbury bell, and it is therefore impossible to say who was the founder. The flat mouldings might be thought to suggest a London origin, but not too much should be deduced from them. 152 THE CHUR CJJ BELLS OF L'lNCAS JJIRE. It has sometimes been stated that this bell was formerly at 'Vhalley Abbey, but a similar claim has been put forward on behalf of other mediceval bells in this part of the county (see Downham, Whalley, Trans. xxxiv). These cla ims rest on no sufficient evi dence. Investigation has so far failed to fi_nd any justification fur the claim as regards the Samlesbury bell, and the origin of the " l radition," if tradition it be, has been impossible to trace. In the absence of documentary evidence or other proof it would therefore seem reasonable to assume that the bell belonged originally to Samlesbury Church, and the fact that the older portions of the existing fabric go back to the fourteenth century might be held to support the assump tion. At any rate, the onus of proof of a contrary claim must rest with those who make it. There is, however, this to be said. The Edwardian Inventory of 1552 records " two little bells " at Samlesbury Chapel, one of which, weighing 80 lbs., was taken away by the Commissioners, and the other, which was of the same weight but of Jess value, rema ined at the chapel, as the parishioners refused to deliver it up. This and similar c;1ses of default being investigated at 'Vhalley in 1554, it was deposed by the two Churchrecves of Samleshury that the bell was still at the chapel. vVhether it was subsequently removed is not dear, but however that may be, there is a diffi~ culty in identifying it with the existing bell owing to the difference in weight. The term "little bell" is rather vague. Often it meant a hand-bell or sacring bell, but not in this case . H en· at Samlesbury it was apparently applied to two bells each weighing about 80 lbs. The fact 1hat both bells were styled "little bells" shows that the term was not used in any technical sense, and it is even open to question whether the weight-SO Ibs.-should be taken literallv.- It is not likelv- that both bells were of exactly the same weight. Eighty pounds may have THE ClllJRCJ/ JU:Ll.S OF L.I NC.IS IIIRE. 153 been a guess, or an approximate estimate, and it is therefore possible that the bell remaining in 1554 is the one now restored to the church. But there is a big margin between 80 lbs. and 120 lbs., which is about the weight of the existing bell less the headstock. The headstock being fixed, it has been impossible to obtain the exact weight of the bell, but the headstock of the second bell, which is about the same size and detach able, weighs 20 lbs. CORRIGENDA. PART IV (voL. xxxvii). Page 37, Jine 21, for "William Seller of York" read "William Scott of Wigan." Page 44, line 3, the same; and also on plate facing p. 43. line 5, for " William Seller was founding at York between 1635 and 16S7 '' read "William Scott was founding at Wigan between 1673 and 1703." (voL. xxxviii). Page 100, line 11, for " sm1rnHEAD " read " SHIRES HEAD." PART V (voL. xxxix). Page 149, line 5, for " Deo Ve rum " read " De urn Verum.'' 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 For more digitised old ringing books, from the home page, scroll down and navigate via the link to “Old Ringing Books”