Prinknash / Caldey

[Bill Hibbert]

We had a correspondence about this last September / October. You may 
recall that the eight now hung in the grounds at Prinknash were 
originally at Caldey Island (off the Pembrokeshire coast near Tenby). 
When they were removed, bells 3 and 7 of the eight were left behind 
and replaced with new bells. The bells at Caldey are both (probably) 
Taylors 1909. 

Various correspondents asked about the state of the bells still at 
Caldey, why 3 and 7 were retained, whether they could be rung etc. 

I visited Caldey last week, as you do, and attended a brief service 
at the Cistercian abbey. The abbey was (re)founded in 1906 and the 
current buildings built in 1910, supporting the 1909 date for the 
bells. When originally founded it was an Anglo-Catholic institution, 
and was intended as the nucleus of a boy's prep school to be built on 
the island. In 1913, the Abbott and many of the monks converted to 
Roman Catholicism, the CofE having become unhappy with the form of 
worship. The community became Benedictine. In the 20s the abbey 
finances began to fail, probably because the fund-raising efforts of 
the Abbott could not be sustained. The island was sold to the 
Cistercians in 1926 (supposedly to stop it being bought by the 
CofE!). The Benedictines had the right to buy it back if they could 
raise enough money, but failed and in about 1929 left for Prinknash.

Most of the Abbey buildings, including the Abbey church, were 
severely damaged in a fire in 1940. I do not know if the bells were 
saved or replaced at this time.

The bells are in active use. They are swing-chimed, or rather rung 
part way up, judging by the sound. The smaller of the two was used to 
announce the service, and the larger to ring the Angelus. Both were 
also rung at other points in the service I attended. The reason, I 
imagine, for retaining bells 3 and 7 was to give bells a fifth apart, 
which sounds good given the way they are used. The bigger bell in 
particular sounds very fine.

I was forbidden by my wife from asking permission to view the bells 
(which are hung in a small tower behind the Abbey church, not visible 
from the public areas). Given the active use of the bells throughout 
the day in workship, and the fact that most areas of the Abbey are 
closed to the public, I suspect a request to go and ring the bells 
might be politely declined.

It was good to discover that two fine-sounding and historically 
interesting bells were being put to good use; they are clearly valued 
by their owners.

Bill H