Taylors bells at St Uny church Lelant

Sticking with the holiday connections, on my final day in Cornwall I stopped off the church in Lelant on the hunt for the grave of one Bernard Walke,* an English Anglican Priest, who spent most of his life in Cornwall, in just three parishes. Now, the reason I went looking for this grave was because a few days earlier I had been at another church, this one in St Erth, where I'd come across information about, and the grave of one Annie Fearon Walke,** an artist living in Cornwall, who was born in Surrey, and who married Bernard. 

I'm sure you can see why I was interested in Annie in the first place: with a name like Fearon, was there any possibility that she was related to Henry Fearon, rector of Loughborough 1856-1885 who was born in Cuckfield, (which is bizarre because as I type this, Phil and Kirsty on Location, Location, Location are just taking a couple to Cuckfield!). A bit of research done later at home has not yet proved a connection with Henry, but there may well be, and I would find it were I to go back far enough.






Anyway, back to Bernard. The church in Lelant is a beautiful little church, overlooking the golf course and the River Hayle, and has many interesting internal features and artefacts. 

Part of what is known as the old churchyard has been designated as a 'living churchyard', which seems to mean the plants are left to take over, making memorial stone hunting quite difficult. 









Luckily, Bernard Walke was a prominent enough figure to be listed on an information board along with the position of his grave, so I managed to find it relatively easily amongst the plants. 

Having done this, I then went into the church hall which was open and serving refreshments. As well as being a meeting place the hall hosted a heritage display, showing all the research that had recently been done. One thing that I had noticed whilst looking around the local churches was the extensive information about some things like the stained glass, or the tiled floor, or the ceiling, or the Victorian restoration, but there was often a lack of information pertaining to the bells within the bell tower. 

















Anyway, idling around the displays, my eye was caught by one noticeboard that seemed to be bell-related. Closer inspection revealed that indeed there was information about the bells - lots of photographs, newspaper cuttings and an order of service. Hang on, an order of service, for what exactly? Ah, a re-dedication service for the bells. This was pinned open at its middle pages, but I was able to look more closely, and discovered that some of the bells had been re-cast in 1952, by Taylors of Loughborough! The original bells had also been cast by Taylors, but in 1836 in Oxford, a few years before the first member of the Taylor family came to Loughborough. A great find!! 

The little booklet about the church (St. Uny, Lelant: the story of the parish church of St. Uny Lelant) which I also found (and bought!) had this to say:

The Bells

The peal comprises six bells, in the key of G-sharp.

Treble. Wt. 3 cwts. 2 qrs. 20 lbs.
Inscription:- "Taylor, Oxford 1836
restored 1952. Evelyn Barker and H.P Hurrell (Churchwardens)"

Second. Wt. 4 cwts. 0 qrs. 0 lbs.
Inscription:- "Taylor, fecit, Oxford 1836"

Third. Wt. 4 cwts. 3 qrs. 5 lbs.
Inscription:- "Taylor, Fecit, Oxford 1836
Obey our call the right the good old way
(Shun Schisms, wiles;) nor from it ever stray".

Fourth. Wt. 6 cwts. 0 qrs. 20 lbs.
Inscription:- "Taylor, fecit, Oxford 1836. Restored 1952
Rev. E.J. Davies-Freme, Vicar.
P.A. Clifton, Ringer's Capt."

Fifth. Wt. 6 cwts. 1 qrs. 25 lbs.
Inscription:- "Taylor, fecit, Oxford 1836."

Tenor. Wt. 8 cwts. 2 qrs. 12 lbs.
Inscription:- "Taylor, Oxford 1836. Mr William Bosustow, Churchwarden.
Glory be to God on high, The day of rest again comes round.
A day to all believers dear. The silver trumpets loudly sound,
That call the tribes of Israel near. Ye people all, obey the call,
And in Jehovah's courts appear".

Thre treble and the fourth re-cast, the peal tuned and re-hung with new fittings by John Taylor & Co., Loughborough, in 1952.
The bells were dedicated by The Lord Bishop of Truro, The Right Reverend E. R. Morgan, M.A. on Saturday, 31st May 1952.
The fifth bell was recast and returned in 1955. 

And then I spotted a bookcase in the church hall, full of books about the area, and books to interest children whilst their parents were indulging in a spot of refreshment. The book that caught my eye was, of course, a Ladybird book!

When I got home, I had a look around the Taylors bellfoundry website, and was astonished to read under their current projects that one of their works in progress is again with the church of St Uny in Lelant! 

And so, ended my Cornwall holiday, from whence I made my way to Bristol, and in the following week visited Peterborough and London - and made yet more Loughborough connections!

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2018). Taylors bells at St Uny church, Lelant. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/07/taylors-bells-at-st-uny-church-lelant.html  [Accessed 29 July 2018]

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* St Hilary is also a church associated with Bernard Walke.

** Annie Fearon Walke also has a Facebook history (under Anne, rather than Annie).