[Bell Historians] St Mary Swansea pre 1941

[Andrew Bull]

The old church had a ring of six bells by Evan Evans of Chepstow, 1720,
tenor about 14 cwt. It would appear that these bells were at sometime
augmented to eight by the addition of two trebles, though I have been unable
to establish when and by whom. A peal of Double Norwich was rung on this
eight by Gloucester ringers in August 1897; the tenor weight was given as 14
cwt in F. Intriguingly, by the time this peal was rung, demolition of the
church had already started, working westwards from the east end.

 

The church was completely rebuilt on a much larger and grander scale, and as
part of this it would appear that the bells were remodelled into a heavier
eight in 1899 by Mears & Stainbank. The two mystery trebles were scrapped,
and a tenor (19-3-1) and treble (5-3-22) were added, the old 4 of 6 being
recast (9-1-13).

 

In February 1941 the church suffered extensive damage from incendiary bombs.
Arthur Wright notes in his Church Bells of Glamorgan manuscript that when he
visited the church on September 21 1948, all that was left were parts of the
seventh and tenor, stored in the base of the tower.

 

Andrew Bull

 

 

 

  _____  

From: Bell-historians
[mailto:bell-historians-bounces at lists.ringingworld.co.uk] On Behalf Of
oliver Lee via Bell-historians
Sent: 27 May 2026 16:41
To: bell-historians at lists.ringingworld.co.uk
Cc: oliver Lee
Subject: [Bell Historians] St Mary Swansea pre 1941

 

At the moment I'm holidaying in north wales and whilst it is quite a way
from where I am currently I was wondering if anyone might know anything
about the pre 1941 eight at st Mary Swansea?. As far as I can work out the
tower  wasn't totally destroyed and seeing that the louvers is missing on
some of the photos taken after the bombing, I can imagine the bells must
have suffered some form of damage. I think I read somewhere that they were a
Warner eight ( which wouldn't surprise me seeing that they also supplied
rings at Porthmadog and burry port) but that's about all I know. 

Many thanks 

Oliver Lee

P/s I had the pleasure of ringing on the new eight at  betws y Coed last
night, Taylor's have really done a fine job with the Porthmadog bells and
apparently, they are miles better than what they were before!. 

 

Sent from Outlook <https://aka.ms/o0ukef>  for iOS

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