[Bell Historians] Akenfield, (Charsfield)

[Philip Denton]

> Put me to wondering when when Charsfield ceised
> to be a ring of 5. they are not in my '68 dove,
> and the web page shows a broken bell, very
> exposed, at ground level.
> Its cirtainly no time recent, possibly before
> WW1, so the section in the book is more about
> ringers and ringing in the aria.

Ranald Clouston wrote a report on the bells at Charsfield dated 3/8/59; 
together with his with his other Suffolk bell reports and correspondence, 
this is to be found at the Suffolk Record Office at Bury St. Edmunds (there 
are some eighty bulky files of papers, kept off-site, so best to ring in 
advance if you want to look at any of this.) The report for Charsfield gives 
the following information:



1.   (None)   4 cwt         1710                Richard Phelps

2.   1142.0   4? cwt      c1480              Brasyers of Norwich

3.   1000.0   5 cwt         1608                James Edbury

4.   907.0     7 cwt         c1480              Brasyers of Norwich

5.   826.0     9 cwt         c1480              Bury St. Edmunds foundry



Diameters: 25.93, 27.56, 29.75, 33.81, 37.87.

No surviving canons on treble; other bell retained canons.

Tone of treble very poor; other bells quite good.



The (c1600 or earlier) timber frame, positioned diagonally in the tower, was 
so decayed that it was only just fit to hold the bells stationary, but 
certainly not to swing them. The frame was mounted in such a way that it 
would act as a 'battering ram' on the tower if the bells were rung. The 
treble was mounted on beams above the other bells, at 45 degrees to the 
rest; these beams were connected to the roof structure. The tower roof had 
leaked for many years, advancing the frame decay. The fittings too were in a 
very bad state. The treble had a large piece missing from its crown. The 
back four bells were not in tune, the interval between each being almost a 
full tone. The third was very flat, the second extremely sharp.



Ranald Clouston noted later, on 21/9/68, that the treble (apart from the 
broken crown part) was on the floor in the church porch, and at great risk 
of being stolen. The other four bells were unsafely 'clocked', but were not 
at that time cracked.



There is nothing else in the file, and I don't know whether any work has 
been done here since.



Philip