charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1"=
>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.50.4611.1300" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><B>From:</B> <A title=3Ddave@d...=20
href=3D"mailto:dave@d...">D Cawley</A> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>> 1. How did I remember it ? I didn't, b=
ut=20
thought there must be something appropriate on a Briant ring and=20
immediately thought of St </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>> Alkmund's. No, they're not Rudhallian but=20
Wildingian; Mr Wilding, of High Ercall being the author of numerous of thes=
e=20
attractive couplets.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Yes, he was a school teacher. Whitechapel used the coup=
lets at=20
various other places as well. There are a whole set of 12 which Wilding com=
posed=20
for at St Chad's, Shrewsbury, and the inscriptions on the sharp 2nd (now=20
removed) and the flat 6th and extra treble which replaced it were designed =
to=20
match them - i.e. rhyming couplets.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>> 2. An interesting account of your visit to the tow=
er,=20
which ties in well with the removal of the bells on the E&S=20
video. What strikes me as </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>> pretty appalling is that a small portion of t=
he=20
proceeds of the sale of the bells was not set aside to wire out the birds.&=
nbsp;=20
Ugh !</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Yes, some of the louvres were broken as well, as I reca=
ll, and=20
at least one of the ringing chamber windows was broken and it was pretty=20
disgusting in there as well. There is also an upstairs room at the west end=
of=20
the south aisle, which is accessed from the tower stairs and was similarly=
=20
revolting. The ropes in the Ellacombe rack in the ringing room went up to t=
he=20
ceiling, but no sign of them above it - they must be held in place by being=
so=20
encrusted! The two peal boards (in good condition) are on the wall in the b=
ase=20
of the tower.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>The church is (or certainly was last time I looked) on =
the E-H=20
buildings at risk register because it needed quite a bit of work doing, and=
so=20
far as I can gather is now a little used daughter church to St Chad's and i=
s=20
threatened with redundancy. The two other churches within the loop of the S=
evern=20
(St Julian's and St Mary's) are already redundant.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>> There was a front cover article of St A's in the C=
omic in=20
the ?early 70's following a T&BC inspection by the late Fred Sharpe.&nb=
sp;=20
On that </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>> poccasion the bells were rung for the first time f=
or=20
decades and the last time ever. That fine frame is, I think, by=
=20
George Day of Eye who </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>> rehung the bells about a century ago.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>I've seen the article, I think. The basic problem was t=
hat the=20
bells were too high in the tower with the tenors swinging the weak way of t=
he=20
building. Sharpe suggested rehanging them lower in the tower with the tenor=
s the=20
other way (which I would think would have involved building a ringing galle=
ry),=20
but nothing ever came of this.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>David</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>