The Church Bells of dorset by W. M. Barnes & J. J. Raven File 01 – Introduction, Inscriptions, Monograph (beginning) – Pages 1 to 77 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 THE OHURCH BELLS OF DORSET. BY CAN ON RA VE:N, D.D., F.S.A. 'V I'l'H A N APPENDIX By W. MILES BARNES. Dorchester ; "OORSET OOC~TY CHll.ONJm,~" PltTh."TTNO WORKS. 1906 CONTENTS. P.tOll Introduction Bell Inscriptions .1\fonograph on the Church Bells of Dorset APPENDnc' oF DocuMBN'tS MID NoTEs CoLLECTED BY W. MI'CBS BARNES. Extracts from Early Chancer,y Do¢ttments and Wills, &c. 105 An Ancient Dumb Bell at Knolc House 171 Addenda et Corrigenda ' 7 3 Bells in Dorset Churches, temp. Edw. VI. (A.D. rss:t ) 189 Average Weights of Bells '94- Chorchwardeus' and Church Accounts 195 By Canon RAVEN, D.D., F.S.A . ........""-i'~ fl S now the idea of recording the inscriptions on the bells of this county is beginning to assume a practical form, and those of one Rural Deanery are completed, it will be useful to make a start by 'PJJ.~ giving some account of what may be expected as ~ the ground is more and more cleared. ~ When I sent my communication, entitled " On some Dorset Bells," to the Secretary of the Royal Archaeological Institute, for their Dorchester meeting in 1897, I expressed a hope that Dorset might be added to the published counties, but I had not dared to anticipate that a body like the }'ield Cl~b would so energetically throw itself into the task. On this occasion, with much gratitude, I send a few prefatory remarks, on the lines of the original paper, enriched by what has been lately found in the Rural Deanery of Dorchester, Dorchester Portion. If not cast within the county boundaries, the bells must have been imported by sea or by land. But ports were few aud insignificant. " Lyme Regis/' says Camden, " can scarcely be reputed a sea-port town or haven." Bridport he passes over with hardly a. word of notice ; while Bishop Gibson mentions its bciug barred with sand. Melcombe was a port till its 'tHE CHURCH BELLS OJ;' DORSHT. privileges were taken away by Act of Parliament in 2 Henry VI., though afterwards recovered. As Poole in I.f. Edw. III. returned two burgesses to Parliament, it may have possessed some little importance, but Parliamentary representation in those days was rather inflicted on little boroughs than desired by them. There seems to have been satisfactory communication by road with Devonshire, Somerset and Wiltshire ; but at present we know little or nothing that we can trace to these counties in the middle ages. Civic archives at Exeter or Salisbury may some day enlighten us. Within home bounds we may conjecture early foundries at Dorchester, Blandford, Sherborne, Wimborne Minster, or the little ports mentioned. I may quote here what I said about an ancient foundry on the Devonshire coast and the Dorset bells of that period. Those of the Rural Deanery of Dorchester do not add to the list there given either of " Longobards," as we call those which are in­ scribed in capital letters, or to those in ordinary black letter. Of the former we may expect at least two types, probably more. There is a village named Paignton, near the mouth of a little creek in Tor Bay, where, at the end of the thirteenth century and in tho fourteenth, lived three generations of a family named de Ropeford, who exercised the combined callings of founder, organ-builder, aud clock-maker. Here in u8s Bishop Peter Quivil, of Exeter, granted to Roger de Ropeford, Campani'slarius, and his heirs, for oue penny each Easter, a certain tenement, they to perform the work of the aforesaid crafts, receiving all things necessary for the work, with victuals and drink whenever so employed. Roger was succeeded by his son William, and William by his son Robert, and from one of the three may have come a few of the group of earlier Longobatdic bells. Paignton \l:as the greatest lordship that belonged to the See of Exeter, and here was a goodly house of the Bishop's. Under these favourable circumstances, with ready access to the sea, the work of the de Ropefords may well have extended into neighbouring counties. In the course of a century this family di!appoars, and THE CHGRCH HELLS OF DORSET. 3 one Thomas Karoun, alias Belhuter, possibly a Scotchman, is at work for Bishop Brantingham in 137Z. Of the Dorset bells belonging to this period may be men­ tioned, firstly, two which bea r the Salutation, in whole or in part:- + flUE: !nfiF{Ifi. Blandford St. Mary, znd. + !DfiF{lfl : ~uE:nfi : G~fi@lfl : ffi : Wambrook, treble. · To these may be added :- I€: SU Ftll.ti DE: I ffilS E:F{ E:.It€.. Wiuterborne Whitchurch, 3rd. + Sfli10€ifl !nflfllfl. Durweston, treble. + flUE: GF{fl0Ifl. Shillingstone, 3rd. ( Recast.) + ffifl~lfl . H ammoon, znd. + Sfin0<9€. @E:€iitE:. Tarrant Crawford, tenor. + Sfln<~<9fi illfiP{I. Winterborne Houghton, .znd . SflnG<9 : finDF{E:.U : IS : illY : nf!mG : Warn­ brook, znd. So far as I can judge by the pen-and-ink drawings which I made in my youth, the lettering and inilial crosses on these bells are of a more simple characte r. , Another group shows great(:!r elaboration, and 0 11 that account may probably take a later date in the fourteenth century. In the case of the Silton znd we get some limits of date assigned us, the Bidyck family having been 'patrons of that Rectory from 131z to Ifi2. The Rector's initials are J. C. according to my MS., but the second letter may be G or T. The inscription in my book reads ol< DOffiinUS : ro : BIDYGX: ; I : & : F{E:G!~O~ : : DUO : FE:GE:R,UU<9. " Fieri fecerunt" is the ge neral expression for donors, but in tP.is rather early bell Bidyck and the Rector may be the two referred to, or the reference may be to two bells. THE CHURCH DELLS OF DOl(SET. Alton Pancras 3rd is inscribed fBJE: G~fH~Ifi @11E:l1fl in Lombardic, but I am not sure of the lettering. A bell at Cranbornc with the same inscription is in handsome style, with a saltire cross. The second at Charlton Marshall only takes the first and second words, with a considerably fioriated cross. One of the bells at !\lilton Abbas, evidently not the work of one of the monks, is marked SfU~@ ('§if£ Il)Ol)flnnes + ~. The tenor at Fontmcll, flU€. mfl~lfl, and the bell at Tarrant Keynston bears good crowned capitals, the latter with a rather elegant cross and with a fieur-de-lis between the second and third letters of the name 1Dfl~Ifl, the only word on it. The Charlton Marshall tenor, with a plain cross, has endured the ineptitude of some wiseacre, who has marked it- + SIC§) 110 CQE:n DO CQ I 11€ BE: nE: DI0 <9U(Q. I should be inclined to class Haselbury Bryan 3rd with the bell at Tarrant Kcynston, the lettering being fine, and there being , a fieur-de-lis stop between the two only words, Sfln€H9E: flnD~E:U. Two of these " Longobards" bear unusual legends, the 3rd bells at I we me Minster and Shapwick. After the words + qUt€) t;;@@uE:SIE: DE:DI<9 on the former, which appears to have emanated from one who would not let his left hand know what his right hand did, there follows a hexameter hard to scan as to interpret:- (9E:l'{@Ifl SI<9 BOnfl SUB IE:SU nOCOinfl SOIGfl. At Shapwick are two hexameters, adapted to metrical destruc­ tion, from a well-known hymn to St. Christopher:- Iul10 IG E:ro E? E: DIE: IGU11110 11f!IG GO~E: G~fH1€.<'9U~ 0~IS (§) OFOF{I SfiQ0<§I <9f£illf?finflro QUI0UffiQUE: <9UE:<9U ~. Specimz is the third word in the second line of the original, and Nempe is an alteration from tzamqut, and perhaps in this instance an improvement on it. THE CHURCH BELLS OF DORSET. s The last of this group which I will mention is the sth at I Broadwinsor, with On this we happily get a founder's mark, No. 5 in Ellacombe's lJevott, the initials t. n. being those of Robert Norton of Exeter. He flourished in the west in the early part of the fifteenth century, and .}\fr. Ellacombe, in his Church Bells of Somerset, records a petition presented in 1431 against him by the parish­ ioners of Plymtree before Johll Stafford, Bisl10p of Bath and Lord Chancellor. The result is not recorded. As a rule his bells are good. Some of these may come from the hands of a founder whose initials were t. n. or from some predecessor of his. An initial cross is used, No. 18 in Ellacombe's C.B. of Ilt11on, and No. 30 in his C.B. of Somerset, by this man, with ordinary black letter 1. inscriptions, but we find it also on Longobards, and notably on the bell which stands or stood on the floor of S. David's Cathedral inscribed :- + SO Ill DE: 0 qO QOF{ €.<9 GLtO F{lfi. THE CHURCH FIRLLS OF DORS.E1'. This was the motto of King Henry V. after Agincourt, and as William Lyndewode, the Canonist, who was present at the battle,.