[Bell Historians] Stanbrook Abbey

[David Beacham]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrew Aspland" <aaspland at ...>
To: <bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2005 7:26 AM
Subject: [Bell Historians] Stanbrook Abbey


>
> Dear All
>
> Does anyone know the details of the chime at Stanbrook Abbey? I belive
the
> nuns are on the move to a new place in North Yorkshire - will they bring
> their bells with them?
>
> Andrew

Following the news that the nuns were considering moving out of Stanbrook
Abbey (they are a "closed" order) I visited there in May 2003. It's in the
Parish of Powick, not far from Worcester. Being an RC foundation it is not
subject to Faculty Jurisdiction, but it is a listed building (Grade 2, I
think). That will have implications for the disposal of the bells I expect.

The bells are a diatonic chime of nine by M&S, the weights being: 1cwt
approx, 1-1-12, unknown, 1-2-23, 4-0-14, 4-1-18, 4-3-14, 5-2-0, 6-1-21.

They are of varying dates, the earliest being 1863. Two bells and then a
further three arrived in 1869, the rest followed in 1870. This information
was provided on an information sheet given to me by a very enthusiastic nun
who showed me round and who used the Ellacombe apparatus to chime "Stedman
Triples". At least, that is what the heading was on the music card, but it
was not Stedman. It was, however, "triples" (that I couldn't identify) and
the numbers on the card ran from 2 - 9! She did it very well. I was not able
to hear the bells outside the tower, but from the ringing chamber they had a
better tone than I was expecting from such small bells of this date and
founder.

I passed on this information to the Worcestershire & Districts Association.

David Beacham
Worcester DAC Bells Adviser