The Church Bells of Warwickshire by Rev. H. T. Tilley and H. B. Walters File 02 – Part I, Introduction, Founders, Local Uses (Pages 1 to 93) 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 PART I. INTRODUCTION. I. THE FOUNDERS OF WARWICKSHIRE BELLS. 1 ; : Purchased from ebay store retromedia THE CHURCH BELLS OF WARWICKSHIRE. It is possible to classify these 1,050 bells in another manner, according to age, as follows Pre-Reformation (anterior to 1550) ... ... .•• 46\.t. Other ancient bells but uninscribed ... ... ... 12J-' " Transitional period " (1550— 1600) ... ... ... i"] Seventeenth century ... ... •• -• • 255 Eighteenth'8 centur\- -/- Nineteenth century and later ... ... ... 416 Bells of uncertain date or uninscribed ... ... ... 13 Total 105 The number of Pre-Reformation bells is therefore 58,1 a surprisingly small proportion, even when compared with neighbouring counties such as Worcestershire (about the same number out of gio) or Staffordshire (40 ancient out of 1,200). The percentage is almost exactly 5^ per cent., as against 8 per cent, in Leicestershire and 6 per cent, in Worcestershire Northants has rather over 5 per cent, of old bells, and Staffordshire only about 3J per cent. If, however, we reckon in the 37 " Transitional bells," this percentage is largely increased, rising to about 9 per cent. In the adjoining counties of Leicester and Northants the same conditions obtain, due there as here to the remarkable activity of the founders at Leicester and Nottingham during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Moreover, many of the bells cast during this period have all the characteristics of mediaeval bells, and few of them are dated. ^^'e may further note here that eleven mediaeval bells in the county have been recast during the last fifty }-ears (see below). Of the 58 Pre-Reformation bells 32 are inscribed in Gothic capitals throughout, 14 in black letter minuscules or " mixed Gothic "; twelve are devoid of inscription or only recognisable as ancient from their shape. The tenor at Meriden has only impressions of mediaeval coins " stamped upon it. There are no complete mediaeval rings in the county, except " pairs at Hunningham and Morton Bagot ; but there are three ancient bells at Bilton, and two each at Coventry St. John, Mancetter, Atherstone-on-Stour, Beaudesert, and Offchurch. Uninscribed ancient bells are at Barston, Brailes (sanctus), Gaydon, Haseley, Merevale (2), Norton Lindsey, Over Whitacre, Wixford, and W'olverton : of these Barston dates from the fourteenth century. There was formerly also another at UUenhall, which from its shape may have belonged to the 13th or even 12th century ; this bell is now at Birmingham (see above). The chief interest of Warwickshire bells is derived from the fact that owing to its geographical position in the centre of England, and the absence of any local foundry between 1400 and 1700, the number of foreign foundries represented is remarkably large. Besides the great foundries of London, Leicester, Nottingham, and Worcester, we find bells from such distant places as Wellington (Salop), Bridgwater, Aldbourne (Wilts), and Stamford, during the 17th and i8th centuries ; but the majority of the bells during that period are successively from the Wattses of Leicester and the Bagleys of Chacomb. The mediaeval bells are chiefly from London fnine), Leicester (ten), and Worcester (seven); but one or two groups may have been cast in the county. Not until the eighteenth century did any local star appear on the horizon, and then we shall see that Joseph Smith of Edgbaston acquired a reputation sufficient to keep at bay even such powerful rivals as the Rudhalls of Gloucester, to say nothing of the Bagleys of Chacomb, who had previously held the field. At the present day the old bells are disappearing fast. Mr. Tilley has recorded- the fate of three or four mediaevals which succumbed to the furnace just at the time when he began his labours in the county, including the great tenor at Brailes; and since that time we have to ' I exclude Irom ihis reckoning all bells cast by the Newcombes of Leicester, some of which are .11 le.ist mediaeval in ityle, ihough evidence points to their being of later date. See below, p. 16. ' Birm. and Mid. Inst. Trans. 1878, p. iS. — Purchased from ebay store retromedia MEDIAEVAL PERIOD. regret the disappearance of interesting bells at Allesley, Halford, and Stoke by Coventry. The total list of mediaeval bells recast within the last fifty years' is as follows : Allesley igoi Baxterley ... 1875 Bearley 1875 Brailes (tenor) 1877 Combrooke 1867 E.xhall by Alcester (two) 1864 Halford ... 1883 Ladbroke ... 1S75 Ryton-on-Dunsmore 1864 Stoke by Coventry ... 1902 To which ma)' be added interesting " transitiona bells at Grendon and Withvbrook. I. MEDIAEVAL PERIOD. It is well known to campanists that in most parts of England—more particularly the east and south-east—-the use of Gothic capitals for bell inscriptions was superseded about the vear " " 1400 by that of mixed Gothic or black-letter minuscules with capitals for initials. But in the Midlands we have ample evidence that this was not the case. The important foundries at Gloucester, Worcester, and Leicester, for some unknown reason, appear to have avoided the use of minuscules altogether and continued to use capitals only down to the end of the fifteenth century at least. Of this evidence will be given in succeeding pages. But for the present this fact concerns us in that it increases the difficulty of dating those Warwickshire bells, the founders of which are unknown, and the dates of which are not determinable from other evidence. There are, moreover, no dated mediaeval bells in the county— none, in fact, earlier than 1580. Taken in conjunction with the number of contemporaneous mediaeval foundries represented in the county, these considerations render it difficult to treat of the pre- Reformation bells in anything like chronological order. As, however, the indeterminable bells are mainly of fourteenth-century character, if not actually of that period, it will be more convenient to treat of them first, before discussing the known foundries. I therefore begin by describing two or three groups of bells which on geographical or other grounds I think were probably cast within the county itself, though we have at present little evidence of a local foundry at Warwick, Coventry, or elsewhere. BELLS OF LOCAL MANUFACTURE. First we have to deal with a group of eight bells, four of which are in Warwickshire, and which from their geographical distribution I am inclined to attribute to a founder either at Coventry or (more probably) Warwick. First of all we have in the county itself (i) the treble at Halford, inscribed fiGios : ifi F?ofiopie ; spfisTi ; lof^fififiis : BfiexisTG ; ^ sum : ne^oufiT^ •" of which Mr. Tilley, with perhaps unnecessary caution, says : — I certainly think it must belong to the fourteenth century." - He is, however, undoubtedly right in regarding it as the oldest inscribed bell in the county, and I should be inclined to say positively that it Ijelongs to the earlier years of that century. That being the case, it is interesting to note that the word 1 Other ancient bells, long since gone, are recorded by Dugdale and other writers as existinj; at Coventry, Hatton, Kenilworth. Stoneleigh and Warwick. • Trans. Birm. and Mid. Insl., 1S78, p. 13. : Purchased from ebay store retromedia BELLS OF WARWICKSHIRE. 4 THE CHURCH the bell, the use of the two-dot RENOVATA implies that it had a predecessor. The shape of Caversfield, Oxon.), stop, and the formula IN HONORE (occurring on the 13th century bell at ayios = sanctus) is, so far as I all point to an early date. The use of the word AGIOS (Greek false know, unique in bell inscriptions; it is a pity that the founder spoiled the effect by a noted in the lettering (see Plate I.) are the elongated A, concord I The chief points to be the form of V.' which is larger than the rest, the reversed N, the square Roman T, and u the The cross is a plain Maltese one, about an inch high, with diagonal bars between arms. A slightly enlarged and more ornate version of this cross (Plate II., Fig. i) occurs with a more developed set of lettering (but in some respects of similar character) on the following bells :— (2) Beaudesert ist : (3) Beaudesert 2nd ; ; iudgofjucq^ ^ iF^esus ; Rfizspi^inus i^ex (4) Whitchurch bell: 2nd : (5) Dalby Parva, Leicestershire, (90i?osisfi . ^ issp ©pej^np ^ es© ^ ^ m ^ nonone ® (the mark of contraction used over four of the words is formed of three lozenges ooo Leics., fig. 66). (6) Wadenhoe, Northants, 2nd : t^ pi?G : fflpFJIfl ; GFJH^IP i eiiGnfl i DOffllHUS ©CSUffl Worcestershire, ist : (7) Broughton Hackett, of Beaudesert 2nd. (8) Broughton Hackett 2nd, an exact duplicate All of these bells bear the cross, Plate II., Fig. i, and at Whitchurch there is also a plain floriated cross (Plate II., Fig. 2) in the middle of the inscription. At Dalby a sort of wheel or is star occurs as stop (Leics. fig. 57), which also found on the sanctus at Preston, Rutland ; but it is doubtful whether the latter bell can be added to our list. It will be noted that this founder only employs two inscriptions (except at Dalby), and further that at Whitchurch he has combined these two in an abbreviated form, the last six letters representing A(i')E M{ari)A G(yaci)A. The lettering on Broughton Hackett ist differs from that on the Warwickshire trio, which is given in Plate II., Figs.