Well, today I learned that there is such a thing as Bell Sunday, which, according to the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers falls on the Sunday closest to St Dunstan’s Day, the latter, this year being 19th May. St Dunstan was a 10th century Archbishop of Canterbury, is the patron saint of bellringers, and as a skilled metalworker, was an early experimenter with bell casting. The celebration on Bell Sunday serves to recognise that bellringers add to the national soundscape, and contribute to the life of the church – summoning people to church for regular services, or for christenings, weddings, and funerals, or simply reminding people by their regular bellringing practice, of what day it is! Oh, and taking part in ringing contests!
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| A bellringer's essential |
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| The ringing chamber at All Saints |
At one time more or less in the centre of Loughborough, there were four Anglican churches, the Church of All Saints; Emmanuel; Holy Trinity, and St Peter’s. The bells of All Saints are well-documented, and there can be few who don’t know that the very reason we have the country’s last remaining dedicated bellfoundry is because the Taylor family came to Loughborough specifically to refurbish the bells of All Saints, in 1839. Indeed, it was actually part of the contract between the bellfounder and the church that the bells be cast in Loughborough, hence the Taylors setting up their bellfoundry initially on Pack Horse Lane, on land leased for 20 years. Things must have worked well for the bellfounders, because when that lease was up they set up a permanent factory on Chapman Street/Freehold Street, and have remained there ever since, making new bells, and repairing old ones.
I haven’t done too much digging around looking for information about our churches, so I have only found scant details about the bells in some of our town’s other Anglican churches. The statutory listing for Emmanuel church simply says: “[The] Tower has 3 light bell openings …”
A report of the consecration of the Holy Trinity church mentions everything from the Minton floor tiles to the ceilings of pitch pine; from the varnished pitch pine seating, to the Devonshire marble altar, but says nothing of the bells other than “A pretty turret contains three bells.” Ironically, the first incumbent at Holy Trinity was the former curate of All Saints, the Rev. E. Bell!
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| The bellcote at St Mary's Nanpantan |
The description in the statutory listing for the church of St Peter’s, on Storer Road and Fearon Street is extensive! However, no mention of the actual bells, other than the sentence “Organ chamber to south has 2-light window and ashlar gabled bell-cote to side over vestry which has flat arched windows and curving parapet.”
Slightly further afield, is the church of All Saints at Thorpe Acre with Dishley, a church which was built in 1849 to replace the mediaeval church at Dishley. Sadly, on my brief search I’ve only found scant information, again in the statutory listing, which simply mentions the “Western bellcote.”
I’ve mentioned the mediaeval church at Dishley, but the summary one would expect to find in the statutory listing for this as an ancient monument says, “Not currently available for this entry.” Which is a little odd … It would appear, however, that while Dishley church might once have been a scheduled ancient monument, it appears it is now a Grade II listed building, which was listed on Monday 15th March 1965. The description associated with the entry makes for interesting reading, particularly the final sentence:
“East, north and south walls of ruined aisle less church, C12/C13; rubble stone with ashlar dressings. Triple lancet east window. North wall: round headed doorway with semi circular hoodmould, plank door. South wall (from east to west) lancet, blocked round headed doorway, ogee-headed lancet, base of porch. Interior has remains of piscina, sedilia, aumbry. Slate grave slabs including those to the Bakewell family C20 slate slab commemorating Robert Bakewell on north wall. Scheduled ancient monument.”
Today as I was walking through Queen’s Park, I was lucky enough to hear a different kind of bellringing – the sonorous sounds of our spectacular carillon played so beautifully by our wonderful carilloneure!!
I also walked close to another bell that will hopefully soon be ringing (or will it be chiming?) – where there’s a bell, there’s hope!!
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| Hope Bell in Queen's Park |
In the meantime, I mentioned Robert Bakewell above, which has prompted me to commemorate his life and work – but that’s a blogpost for another day!!
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