Taylors bells at Wendron

Sorry to not have provided you with some interesting reading last week: I have been away in Cornwall. Needless to say, whilst I was there, I spotted an interesting Loughborough connection!!

I have been looking into the life and times of one of the John Taylor, bellfounders, family members, one Jemima Emily Taylor. Jemima was the daughter of John Taylor and his wife, Amelia. John was the son of Robert Taylor and his wife, Elizabeth, and Amelia was the daughter of Reverend Pryce Jones and his wife, also named Elizabeth.

John and Amelia had married on 14th April 1825 in Abthorpe, Northamptonshire, which was where Amelia was baptised and lived. John lived in the parish of St Ebbs in Oxford. The couple moved to Buckland Brewer in Devon, and the first five of their children were baptised there. This included Sarah Elizabeth in 1826, John in 1828, Elizabeth in 1829, Robert in 1831, and then Jemima Emily in 1833. Two further children were born in Oxford, Pryce Jameson Jones in 1835, and Amelia Jones in 1937.

I thought it might be quite interesting to see what bells the bellfounders were casting around about the time Jemima Emily was born and baptised, which was 1833. Imagine my surprise when I found that a church in Cornwall, close to where I was staying, was one such lucky place!

Wendron, just outside Helston, is a tiny village, which boasts an interesting-looking granite church, dedicated to St Wendrona, a Cornish saint, sometimes known as Gwendrona. Some of the structure dates from the 13th century, and the church was renovated between 1867 and 1869, not by Sir George Gilbert Scott, like our own parish church, but by Edmond and JD Sedding. 

In the churchyard there is a lovely granite war memorial, some interesting gravestones, a magnificent granite column topped with a sundial, a granite boundary marker, engraved with the year 2000, and a lychgate with a double length granite bench for resting coffins on. The church was listed as Grade I in 1957, and is in the diocese of Truro – another religious building with a Loughborough connection.

Anyway, I turned up at the church on a gloriously sunny morning (not the best for taking photographs!) and had hoped to venture inside the church, but sadly, it was closed, so I had to make do with wandering around the outside. The tower of St Wendrona is apparently 15th century, and is constructed of three stages, with an embattled parapet, pinnacles and diagonal buttressing, made from granite. 

In 1833, John Taylor, Jemima’s father, had cast two bells for this church. A further two bells by John Warner and Sons were added in 1868, and another two by John’s descendants at Taylors Bellfoundry in Loughborough in 1937, and they also did a major overhaul of the existing bells and the oak bellframe.

According to the church noticeboard, the bellringers hold their practice on a Wednesday evening  and seems to be on the lookout for new members!

Anyway, here are some more pictures of my visit.

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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