[Bell Historians] Akenfield, (Charsfield)

[Philip Denton]

Sorry, second weight should have been 4.25cwt.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Philip Denton" <ph.denton at un2PMQ_8VK7p2HPP23zDoQZG9nXrBo-DGVVln50l0cG2IzxrWRwPJcQV6BqG7IhhZv-69mrZf0N0UdpsXm85.yahoo.invalid>
To: <bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 10:17 PM
Subject: Re: [Bell Historians] Akenfield, (Charsfield)


>> 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
>