[Bell Historians] St John-the-Divine, Leicester

[D Cawley]

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I rang in one of the last touches at Towcester before the bells were remove=
d - a fine ring. Never saw them in the tower. Of course, they're a great =
success at Towcester. What was the final disposition of the three chime be=
lls ?

As stated, a rather unexciting building as many of Vulliamy's were. One of=
his best is St Michael, Highgate with a thumping great Mears bell in it; a=
nd there was a carbon copy at Christ Church, Woburn Square near the UL Sena=
te House. This was supposed to have 8 bells for chiming but neither G&J, T=
aylors or WBF claim any knowledge of them or their disposal. The church we=
nt piecemeal in the late 60's.

The decision to go back to the old parish church at Todmorden was surely a =
right one, and I gather the little Taylor ring there is very sweet. St Mar=
k's was a very different story - an "embarrassing" church - prominent posit=
ion, good track record, and so forth, but it did not fit in to the new Team=
set up.....

Twenty years on and they've just forced the closure of St Mark's "twin", St=
Paul's, Kirby Road (1: 32" JT 1872, a duplicate of St Mark's treble). The=
reasons given differ somewhat from reality.

It would be good to see a write-up of Bishophill Senior in the comic.

DLC
----- Original Message -----=20
From: David Bryant=20
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com=20
Sent: 29 July 2002 16:19
Subject: Re: [Bell Historians] St John-the-Divine, Leicester


Dave Cawley wrote:

> St Mark's, as stated a chef d'oeuvre of Ewen Christian, ws sold years a=
go to the City Council when the dear=20
> old CofE found, after closing and gutting it that they couldn't demolis=
h it.=20=20=20

Ah, so they left it to deteriorate in the hope that eventually it would
get a dangerous structure notice served on it and then they could
demolish it. This was done with St Mary Bishophill Senior, York, a
church with work from every period from Saxon to Victorian.

Incidentally, I've contacted the Wakefield diocesan office asking for
permission to look inside the tower of Christ Church, Todmorden. No
reply as yet, but it was only a week ago I asked. I believe that they
are still trying to sell the church, with the suggested use being
warehousing. It's not in a very good state of repair though, apparently.
Michael Wilby tells me that the frame grillage is still there, and
possibly the Ellacombe as well. The church is a large and unexciting
building by Lewis Vulliamy, situated outside of the town centre. Its
bells are of course now at Towcester.

David

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