<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>My copy of "Church Bells" by H B Walters (1908), states that <BR>
"<I>Some inscriptions are of historical interest, such as at <B>Child Okeford, Dorset</B>, where, in 1648, <B>GOD BLESS KING CHARLES</B> was actually placed on a bell by a founder who must have had the courage of his convictions!</I>"<BR>
<BR>
I also recall, but cannot find now, a reference to a similar sentiment which was cast in reversed letters, presumably to make it less easy to be discovered by Parliamentarian loyalists. The most likely source of this isin a book called "Bells of the Isle" by Bob Major, but I cannot lay my hands on it at present. Let me know if this is important to your research and I shall have another look.<BR>
<BR>
Not in the Commonwealth period but of similar historical interest, because of the family involved, is the coat of arms of Elizabeth 1st and the inscription "God bless our Church, our Queen, our Realme" on our own tenor here at Kirkby Malham. The bell was cast in 1602 by William Oldfield, the Elder, and was the gift of Josias Lambert of Calton Hall (about 2 miles away). The significance of this is that Josias' son was General "Honest" John Lambert, Cromwell's 2nd in Command. Clearly Dad's Royalist viewswere not passed on to his son!<BR>
<BR>
Malcolm Bland<BR>
</FONT></HTML>