St Peter Port

[John David]

St Peter Port

When it became clear that the old frame would be removed I spent a considerable number of lunch-hours measuring the old frame and reading through the church records with the intention of producing a complete record. The following things are clear:-

There is no reference or money provided to build a new frame at the time of the 1736 recasting . This recasting was agreed to by the parish on May 19th, (one of the bells was cracked and the mountings of all “decayed and ruinous”)  the old bells were rung on July 10th and the new ones on Oct 11th, perhaps a rather short time for a job of this size, especially if a new frame was needed. There are rumours of a late 17c recasting but I have found no evidence, nor of how many bells were recast in 1736 

The clock room floor below the bells was raised in 1783 when a new clock was installed. The timbers supporting the raised floor included some which appeared to have been part of a bell frame, but there is nothing in the church accounts to suggest that the frame was replaced in 1783, or at any time since. 

The frame removed in 1994 appears not to have been altered significantly during its lifetime, and none of the timbers (apart from a brace across what would have been the open end of the treble pit) seemed to be of previously-used timber)

All the French bellframes I have seen (admittedly not a lot) tend to have criss-cross lattice bracing. The Town Cjurch frame was not like that, it had the normal English-style diagonal braces. The original frame would possibly have been supported top and bottom on the two sets of corbels provided, as are the frames at St Saviour’s (otherwise English-style) and St Pierre du Bois (peculiar) still.

The frame removed in 1994 was supported on three large beams, two supported on the corbel tables on the e and w sides of the tower, the other supported only on the N and S window transoms. Where these beams were available they also formed part of the frame, diagonal braces and slider beds and pulleys were mounted directly on the foundation beams.

Judging by marks where bells had rubbed against timbers, the frame seems only to have ever supported two sets of bells, those cast in 1736 by Brocard of Lorraine and their replacements in 1913 by Villedieu. The latter reused the headstocks, wheels, and clappers of the 1736 bells. 

The anticlockwise frame held two bells in each corner, 8 and 1 swung EW in the SW corner, 2 and 3 NS at the SE, and so on. All the rope rollers were at the wall end of the pits. The wheels, which were of what Sharpe calls continental  pattern (but which seems to have been quite common in England) had no meeting spokes. The treble wheel had some clumsy repairs but I do not think it was intended that they should be a counterbalance. All the bells originally had traditional stays and sliders, the longitudinal sliders on four of the bells and the peculiar slider on the seventh dated from 1913, when the chiming hammers provided by Villedieu interfered with the original sliders. Provision of tie-bolts some time later interfered even with the longitudinal sliders. 

The diameter of all the wheels (except the tenor) was much the same as the length of the pit. The tenor wheel was smaller, as a clock weight shaft occupied the end of the pit. However as there had been clock before 1783 this does not help with dating.

The bells were rung only a few times a year, by the end of the 19th century only for the Queens Birthday and probably occasionally for weddings. Until the middle of the 19c only one bell was used for services, in 1847 a chiming barrel was installed with hammers on the back six bells, (I have found no further details, but it may have been like the one at St Martin’s, of a similar date) and this was replaced by a French version of an Ellacombe apparatus in 1913.

An attempt to have the bells rung for Services in the early 1890s failed because of noise complaints – the parishioners refused to continue paying the ringers to ring on the Queen’s birthday.

The frame held two bells in each corner,  8 and 1 swung EW in the SW corner, 2 and 3 NS at the SE, and so on. All the rope rollers were at the wall end of the pits. The wheels , which were of what Sharpe calls continental  pattern (but which seems to have been quite common in England) had no meeting spokes. The treble wheel had some clumsy repairs but I do not think it was intended that they should be a counterbalance. All the bells originally had traditional stays and sliders, the longitudinal sliders on four of the bells and the peculiar slider on the seventh dated from 1913, when the chiming hammers provided by Villedieu interfered with the original sliders. Provision of tie-bolts some time later interfered even with the longitudinal sliders. 

The diameter of all the wheels (except the tenor) was much the same as the length of the pit. The tenor wheel was smaller, as a clock weight shaft occupied the end of the pit. However as there had been clock before 1783 this does not help with dating.

The bells were rung only a few times a year, by the end of the 19th century only for the queens birthday and probably occasionally for weddings. Until the middle of the 19c only one bell was used for services, in 1847 a chiming barrel was installed with hammers on the back six bells, (I have found no further details, but it may have been like the one at St Martin’s, of a similar date) and this was replaced by a French version of an Ellacombe apparatus in 1913.

An attempt to have the bells rung for Services in the early 1890s failed because of noise complaints – the parishioners refused to continue paying the ringers to ring on the Queen’s birthday.

I have a number of photographs I took of the SPP bells in 1993-94, if somebody could tell me (off list?) how to get a selection on the website.I will see what I can do.

John David

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