[Bell Historians] FW: [r-c] www.tenorbox.org.uk inscriptions

[David Bryant]

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From: D Cawley=20

> 1. How did I remember it ? I didn't, but thought there must be somethin=
g appropriate on a Briant ring and immediately thought of St=20
> Alkmund's. No, they're not Rudhallian but Wildingian; Mr Wilding, of Hig=
h Ercall being the author of numerous of these attractive couplets.

Yes, he was a school teacher. Whitechapel used the couplets at various othe=
r places as well. There are a whole set of 12 which Wilding composed for at=
St Chad's, Shrewsbury, and the inscriptions on the sharp 2nd (now removed)=
and the flat 6th and extra treble which replaced it were designed to match=
them - i.e. rhyming couplets.

> 2. An interesting account of your visit to the tower, which ties in well =
with the removal of the bells on the E&S video. What strikes me as=20
> pretty appalling is that a small portion of the proceeds of the sale of t=
he bells was not set aside to wire out the birds. Ugh !

Yes, some of the louvres were broken as well, as I recall, and at least one=
of the ringing chamber windows was broken and it was pretty disgusting in =
there as well. There is also an upstairs room at the west end of the south =
aisle, which is accessed from the tower stairs and was similarly revolting.=
The ropes in the Ellacombe rack in the ringing room went up to the ceiling=
, but no sign of them above it - they must be held in place by being so enc=
rusted! The two peal boards (in good condition) are on the wall in the base=
of the tower.

The church is (or certainly was last time I looked) on the E-H buildings at=
risk register because it needed quite a bit of work doing, and so far as I=
can gather is now a little used daughter church to St Chad's and is threat=
ened with redundancy. The two other churches within the loop of the Severn =
(St Julian's and St Mary's) are already redundant.

> There was a front cover article of St A's in the Comic in the ?early 70's=
following a T&BC inspection by the late Fred Sharpe. On that=20
> poccasion the bells were rung for the first time for decades and the last=
time ever. That fine frame is, I think, by George Day of Eye who=20
> rehung the bells about a century ago.

I've seen the article, I think. The basic problem was that the bells were t=
oo high in the tower with the tenors swinging the weak way of the building.=
Sharpe suggested rehanging them lower in the tower with the tenors the oth=
er way (which I would think would have involved building a ringing gallery)=
, but nothing ever came of this.

David
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