Halse, Somerset ?

[Peter Whisker]

The V&A have an exhibition of Gothic Art on at the moment in London. They
have a bell (est circa 6.5 cwt) which apparently was at one time, they say,
the tenor of St. James's church, Halse. The bell is currently owned by the
Royal Albert Museum in Exeter.

Has anyone any more detail on this bell - the present ring is of 6 (it used
to be 5 as shown below). The current tenor is 10cwt, so it seems odd that a
6.5cwt bell was once the tenor as the V&A say.

Thanks
Peter Whisker

"HALSE, a parish in the hundred of Williton, county Somerset, 7 miles S.W.
of Taunton, its post town, 6 N.E. of Wellington, and 2 miles from Bishops
Lydeard railway station. The soil is a rich loam, and subsoil marl. Tho
impropriate tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £327 16s., and
the vicarial for £135. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and
Wells, value £174. The church, dedicated to St. James, is a small edifice
with square tower containing five bells. The parochial charities produce
about £44 per annum. There is a parochial school for both sexes, with £30
per annum, the endowment of the late Edward Prior, Esq. The Dissenters have
a place of worship. Richard Chandler Alexander Prior, Esq., is lord of the
manor." From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)