The Church Bells of Buckinghamshire BY A. H. Cocks File 06 : Start of Part III, Inscriptions Addington to Grendon Underwood Pages 293 to 393 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 Purchased from ebay store retromedia X*MXt& XXX. Purchased from ebay store retromedia INSCRIPTIONS. The figures in brackets, following each inscription, give the diameter of the bell at the lip, in incftes. The number of bells quoted in various parishes, under date 1552 or 3, or 1637 or 8, are from the (MS.) Lists made at the Visitations of the County, at those dates : see under "Bibliography,'' in the Introduction. The quotations under 17 14 are from Browne Willis's MS. List {Ibid.) ; and those under 1755, are from his History and Antiquities of the Town and Hundred of Buckingham, published in that year. ADDINGTON. [Assumption of the*] B.V. Mary. 1. C7IJST BY J0fl]S Wfll^lSEH § 30NJS ItO]O0]5 JS70 :• (28J) 2. I 65 6 CHAMDLER MADE ME (31) A 3. "R 1626 ( 34|) S. {Blank) (ioi) lettering is the smallest set on Plate 2 : by Anthony Chandler (p. 224). The turned XXXIII. ; the clapper is too long ; the bell ought to have been when the " "restoration took place in 1870. Tenor : by Robert Atton (p. 205), in his smallest lettering (Plate XXX.). Saunce : perhaps late eighteenth century. Old frame and recast the Treble. hangings ; evidently repaired by Warner, when he Horizontal iron stays and sliders. Adington, iij great bellys and one fauns bell. 5 May, 1 S 53, mentioned). 1 714, 3 bells (sanctus not 1755, three modern Belles. ADSTOCK. S. Cecilia. 1. (33*) $ # # * £ 4* Sancta jlnna Ora Pro Oofefe * s © s * Browne Willis, Hist. Buck. Hundred, p. 115. — Purchased from ebay store retromedia 296 THE CHURCH BELLS OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. 2. RICHARD CHANDLER MADE ME 1676 (34J) S. 1826 (i 2 £) Treble : by John Sturdy (p. 26). The crowned capitals are the upper set on Plate XI. ; the initial cross is No. 1, and the other one is No. 7, on that Plate ; his initials are in the smaller lettering on the same Plate, separated by a coin (see fig. 14); the fourth bell at Thrapstone, Northampts, is similarly inscribed. Tenor: by the third Richard Chandler, in his one-inch lettering (p. 227); has been turned, and the crown-staple broken. Saunce : evidently by Thomas Mears II. ; cast without the side ( = double) canons ; iron lever (in place of wheel). A third bell (Tenor, the cage being one inch wider than that of the existing tenor), was sold within living memory. It was cracked, and was used in that con- dition for Several years, but the authorities being ridiculed on account of it, at last sold it. 1 553, iij great belle &* one faunfe bell. 2 Auguft, 1637, 3 Bells S'; bell the fleeple wants pgeting . The weft window in the Bellfry to be made new. 1714, 3 bells (sanctus not mentioned). first is 1 75 5, three Bells ; the and third are modern, but on the second this Infcription, j^anxta J^mta, <©ra pro nobis. Browne Willis seems, for once, to have fallen into an error in calling the ancient bell the second. — On the frame is cut : IOHN I 6 I 8 IEFS Jeffs is a mid-Bucks name at the present day, and probably this excellent bell- hanger belonged thereabouts. Other frames by him still remaining, in this county, are at Simpson, 1623, and Bow Brickhill, 1628. Those at Hardwickand Whaddon are very similar, but do not bear his " sign manual." In the churchwardens' accounts of S. Mary's, Oxford, copied by Mr. A. D. Tyssen, the name appears in the account for the year ending at Easter, 1650 : Item payd to Geffs and a man to help him to take of 1 the fourth Bell to repayre the brasses thereof and for I .3.6 for makeing a stay ye Tennor J The Death Knell is tolled early in the morning, when the death occurs during the night ; and when during the day, as soon as notice is given to the sexton. A bell is tolled at funerals, and a few strokes an hour before, for the bearers to prepare. On Sundays the bells are chimed for the Services, the saunce used for the last five minutes ("Parson's bell"). ! m Purchased from ebay store retromedia ADSTOCK—AMERSHAM. 297 By order of the churchwardens, it is entered in the Register, that the bells are never to be rung, on account of the clock chimes No churchwardens' accounts, and no reference to the bells in the Registers. Many thanks to the Rev. T. Cockram, Rector. AKELEY-CUM-stockholt. S. James. 1. EDWARD HALL MADE ME 1726 IN to) 2 - RICHARD CHANDLER MADE ME 16 74 (26^) Treble: has a long round shoulder, and the inscription is below the rims, in Richard Chandler III.'s 1.2 inch high lettering (p. 236). Tenor : one of the earliest bells by Richard Chandler III., in lettering \% of an inch high, a copy of his father, Anthony's, set (p. 227). The present church was built in 1855, and the bells have modern hangings (by White ?) ; but the old clappers with iron baldricks ; no sliders, though treble has a stay. The tower unusually clean. Both are very good bells. 5 May, 1553, Acley ij great belle [&* one faunfe bell hangyng in the fame church]* 8 July, 1637, Akely, 2 bells. 1714, 2 bells. 1755, at the West End is a wooden Turrit, lately rough cast, in which hang two small modern Bells. Lipscomb copies this account. It is reported in Foscott that one of the bells there was sold about 1830, and taken to Akeley. AMERSHAM. S. Mary. i- xzxxzxi> Our Voices Shall "With Joyfull Sound Make Hills and Valleys Eccho Round 1771 <oco<x: (On Waist:) PACK & CHAPMAN OP LONDON EECIT {Incised:) Jn° Lawrence & Jn° Towne Ch* Wardens (34^) 2. {The inscription, length 20 inches, has been cut off, and carefully filed smooth ; the remainder of the circumference is filled with) $^<jf? >i*'j|i?*J*«j|i?»J* R 3. The Gift op Thomas Tyrwhitt Drake Esq: T. 5 rv Mears op London Fecit i8i8 ^xxs^" exK9^ (39) * Erased. 2 Q 4 Purchased from ebay store retromedia 298 THE CHURCH BELLS OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. 4. THIS BELL WAS GIVEN TO THE PARISH OF AMERSHAM BY W: DRAKE ESQ: OF SHARDELOES J 75 (On Waist:) ^xZX THOMAS LESTER & THO: PACK FECIT X5(* (41 i) 5. xxzx>Pack & Chapman of London Fecit 1776 <s*ooc: (45) 6. X UIITO THE CHURCH I DOE YOU CALL xSv ""J"-*R nRF1?T11 omrmiiSHTPPFn ^ ^^ DEATH TO THE GRAVE WILL SUmonS ALL D>D Rector Ralph Adaitis IoHn Town Church WARDEns •:• R-:-C J755v (494) : remain, are a slightly larger size of Treble : (p. 101). 2 the ornaments which the two small figures at the top of Plate XXI., namely, a fleur-de-lis and a cross patonce with flourished lower limbs; they show that the bell is by R. Phelps to his time at the (p. 98) ; the crown is less flat than in bells cast subsequently in Whitechapel Foundry. 3 (p. 105) and 4 (p. 100) : the manor of Shardeloes,* this parish, was, in the time of Elizabeth, in the possession of William Tothill, Esq., who had thirty-three children ! His eldest daughter, and co-heiress, Joane, was married to Francis Drake, Esq., of Esher, in Surrey, a gentleman of the Privy- Chamber to King James I. Their eldest son, Sir William Drake, Knt., was bapt. Bart. the manor of Agmondesham from William, 1606; created 1641 ; purchased Earl of Bedford, in 1665, and built the Market House, mentioned below, and died unmarried, 1669. His youngest brother, Francis, was twice married, and by his second wife had one son, Sir William Drake, Knt. ; M.P. for Amersham ; died 1690. His eldest son, Montague Drake, Esq., of Shardeloes, was born 1673; M.P. for Amersham, 1695;, died 1698. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Montague Garrard Drake, Esq., M.P. for Amersham, 1713; died 1728. To him succeeded his second son—the eldest having predeceased him—William Drake, Esq., born 1723 ; M.P. for Amersham from 1746 to his death in 1796. He was the giver of the fourth bell. His eldest son predeceased him, and he was succeeded by his second son, Thomas Drake, Esq., born 1749; took the name of Tyrwhitt, and (on the death of his elder brother) resumed the name of Drake in addition ; M P. for Amersham; died 1810. His eldest son, who succeeded him, was Thomas Tyrwhitt Drake, Esq., whose name appears on the third bell. He was M.P. for Amersham, 1826; died 1840. Succeeded by his eldest son and namesake, the present squire, born June 21st, 1817. Tenor: by Robert Catlin (see p. 141). Robert Shippen, D. D., rector, was presented by William Drake, Esq. (the donor of the fourth bell, mentioned above), and inducted 20th April, 1744, He died within the next two years, his successor being inducted 2nd April, 1746.+ 16 Aug. 1637, Agmondsham, 5 Bells, & S'.s bell & a Clock; 1714, 5 (raised to 6 by about 1752. Possibly the tenor was an addition.) * Lipscomb, III., 153. f Lipscomb. — — — Purchased from ebay store retromedia AMERSHAM. 299 I have to thank E. J. Payne, Esq., for the following extracts from the church- Wardens' accounts, entitled : "Thys ys the Cownting Boke of ow« Lady Church of Agmondesham." Beginning Oct., 31 Henry VIII.