BW Bells - The origin of the naming of the pub in Belchamp Walter

The Bells of St. Mary - Belchamp Walter

The 8 Bells in the belfry of St. Mary's Belchamp Walter are the inspiration for naming of the Village Pub, The Eight Bells.

The bells were last rung in 1923, there is an estimate for the repair work needed for the bells in the Essex Archive dated 1929. It would be interesting to know how much the repairs would cost now in 2021!

The link to the Essex Archive search is not really that much use unless you have a subscription to the archive. I have speculated on what the costs would be.

The quote and the listing of the bells, with their inscriptions, were taken from the Belchamp Walter Village Hall website. It is not known who is the author or the source of the information. I have left the inscriptions below as I found them as it is likely that they would have been in capital letters and possibly mis-spelt. I do this as I have not actually confirmed this (I may be able to later).

The information sheet in the Church says:

" In the tower is hung a fine peal of eight bells, it is thought that the bells were augmented to six in 1774 and to eight in 1778.
The first known peel from the eight bells was one of “Oxford Treble Bob Major on the 8th January 1781.
The last recorded peal was a peal of Plain Bob Minor on the 1st February 1913, they were rung for the last time in 1923 because of the condition of the fittings and the oak timbered frame was unsafe.
The only remaining peel board records a peal of Kent Treble Bob Major rung on the 11th June 1882.
The bells were later adapted for chiming. "

According to the inscriptions the bells at Belchamp Walter were cast from 1712 and 1782

Top

There is a Peel Board in the "Silence Chamber", the first floor of the tower. This was where the bell ringers would have rung the bells, the ropes would have decended into this room. The Peel Board is largely uniteligible and is located on the South wall of the tower behind the ropes for the chiming mechanism. You can see the underside of the belfry, where the main bell ropes would have been and the chiming ropes now go.

The eight bells are inscribed as follows;

Treble Bell – CUM VOCO VENITE:……..T. OSBORN DOWNHAM NORFOLK FECIT. 1782. (INCISED)
2nd Bell – CAST BY JOHN WARNER & SONS LONDON Ltd. REVd SAMUEL R_____ 1778 RECAST 1891 REVd J.M. St. R_____ LAY_RECTOR REVd F.W. PELLY_VICAR.
3rd Bell – PACK & CHAPMAN OF LONDON FECIT. 1774 THE REVd SAM. R____ (INCISED)
4th Bell – C & G. MEARS FECt. 1844.
5th Bell – THOMAS GARDINER CAST VS THR-E 1712.
6th Bell – PACK & CHAPMAN OF LONDON FECERUNT 1780.
7th Bell – RECAST BY JOHN WARNER & SONS LONDON 1871 +.(on waist) Revd J>M> St. CLERE R____ LAY RECTOR CHAs ADAMS ) ROB FIRMIN ) CHURCH WARDENS 1871 + E.W. DOWNS HUNG ME.
Tenor Bell – JOHN MAYNE ESQ KENSINGTON MIDDLESEX FEB: 9. 1781: THOs OSBORN DOWNHAM FECIT.

The inscriptions are testiment to the notes made by Peter Woollam on Civic Pride and Social Standing.

Key to Inscriptions

Fecit - Latin for "He Made"
CUM VOCO VENITE - "Come when I call"
Thomas Osborn of Downham Market, Norfolk. Bell foundry
PACK & CHAPMAN OF LONDON - and - C & G MEARS aliases of Whitechapel Bell foundry
THOMAS GARDINER Sudbury 1709 - 1760 - Sudbury Historical Society.

Quote from Sudbury Historical Society:

" The period where churches were being desicrated by the Puritan Movement church bells survived but the ringing of them was serverly curtailed. "

After this period the interest in bell-ringing grew and there was a "heyday" for bell founder and foundries.

" Thomas Gardiner inherieted Hanry Pleasants foundry down by Baliingdon Bridge. The new barge traffic, around 1710, on the Stour proved to be an asset. However, Gardiner's bells were "average to good, none were outsanding but othrewise none were bad" "

The bell ringers were reknown in their smoking and drinking. This was possibly the reason that the Ellacombe Apparatus was invented. The Sudbury Historical Society recounts stories of the campanologists activities and there are "relics" of their drinking paraphernalia.

More data on the bells - Dove's Guide for Church Bell

Gotches

A gotch was a container for beer that bell-ringers were paid. There is an example of a beer gotch in Clare, Suffolk. The drunken antics of bell-ringers may well have spurred on the adoption of the Ellacombe apparatus.

The quote below is from the Angels and Pinnacles website:

" The 18th century ringers’ gotch – that’s a beer jug. Beer was once the payment for the ringers. Clare’s ring of eight is said to be the heaviest in Suffolk. "

8 Bells pub

The pub is no longer a pub, it is now a private house. The house is called "Bells House" and it is not listed.

Ellacombe apparatus

See my page on this.

Civic Pride - a few more quotes from:

Peter Woollam, Lichfield DAC Bell Adviser: on the subject of Bell Ringing and the aquisition of bells.

The changes of sequences were, at first, generated by a conductor making occasional calls to vary the order but this soon developed into ‘scientific’ ringing, where changes occurred at each pull of the rope following an ordered pattern. Bell ringers’ ambitions were sustained as churches acquired more bells and began paying ringers for their services. It became a matter of civic pride, for town and city churches in particular, to have greater numbers of heavier bells with ringers of sufficient competence to acquit themselves well in the prize competitions which became a feature of the ringing scene. Many foundries were established across the country to meet the demand, particularly during the 18th and 19th centuries, but today only two companies casting new bells remain in the UK. Competition ringing remains, but with friendly rivalry the only motive.

The aspect of Civic Pride is supported by the inscriptions seen above. However, this was a moot point as "the great un-washed" were not likely to see the bells.

Social History

Peter Woollam, Lichfield DAC Bell Adviser:

" Many bells bear inscriptions cast in raised relief, usually just below the shoulder but often also on the waist, and these can tell us much about the social history of the time. One is tempted to wonder, for example, if the inscription:

" “GOD SAVE HIS CHURCH OUR KING AND REALM”
on a bell cast in 1634, i.e. in the years leading up to the English Civil War, was in part a statement of political affiliation.

Foundry workers of earlier centuries were probably ill-educated, barely literate even, and it is not unusual to find evidence of this in the form of e.g. the letters “N” and “S” being reversed or upside-down.

The inclusion of the suffixes against the names of the four churchwardens in this bell from 1717 tell us something about their standing in the wider social environment:"

" “RICH^D LLOYD ESQ^R RICH^D OWEN GN^T HUMP KYNASTON GN^T NATH PRICE GN^T”

Again, the inscriptions on the Belchamp Walter bells are examples of both the illiteracy and Social Standing.

General inscriptions:

Some founders habitually included inscriptions that were probably not specifically requested by a parish, as the same wording is found on their bells in many different towers:

“PEACE AND GOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD”
“PROSPERITY TO ALL OUR BENEFACTORS”
“I TO THE CHURCH THE LIVING CALL AND TO THE GRAVE DO SUMMON ALL”

This would also include dates, the Foundry name and FECIT

War Memorial Bells

" There are bells which have been designated as WWI War Memorials by virtue of the commemorative inscriptions which they bear. "

Extra decoration

" Some parishes were evidently willing to ‘go an extra mile’ by commissioning elaborate decoration between the lettering on the inscription band and/or around the shoulder and soundbow. "

Duplication of Insciption on re-casting

" The historical significance of inscriptions has long been recognised and, where bells have had to be re-cast for some reason, it is not unusual for impressions to have been taken and the inscriptions recreated on their replacements. "

Background to this page

Having seen some of my history pages being found by those making an Internet search I have decided to add a bit more context on how the pages came about.

A mention on a Facebook page led to the update of this page and others that seemed to generate interest. I also added, or rather removed, some of the links to external websites. While I don't have a problem with providing such links on my pages it is often just a convienence for my own visits to the site.

Also, the fact that the visite were from Facebook I am making the assumption that the views were made on a Smartphone. This being the case I have looked to see if the pages make sense on smaller screens. Adding sticky buttons where I thought appropriate.

August 2023 - Saw an Impression for query: "marketing company in belchamp walter"

Redirection

The page friends_bells.html gets found by those making a search - I really want this page to be found (Formatting etc). I need to add an entry into .htaccess

The Bells of St. Mary - Belchamp Walter

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