The church has an elegant detached tower and spire with six bells nowadays rarely rung which is unfortunate as they were renovated at the millennium, the old No 5 dated 1572 being retained hung dead, and replaced by a new bell cast at Loughborough. They are a mixed bag of castings so what is their history? What happened over the centuries resulting in what we have today? Well it is a rather convoluted tale and any mistakes are my own, but here goes.
In 1652 there were four bells, the largest cast in that year by Thomas Norris of Stamford having a diameter of 48 inches which in a modern bell would indicate a weight of about a ton. Founders of the three smaller bells were not stated though the treble was inscribed "Jesus be our Spede" and dated 1598. None of these bells remain today, the first to go being the cracked No 2, which sometime in 1758 was "swopped" for a bell from Caston, Norfolk by Joseph Mallows whose short lived foundry ( 1756 to 1760) was at East Dereham. This bell is now the one hung dead but in 1758 became No 3, as he also cast a new treble to make a ring of five retaining the large Norris bell as tenor.
Moving forward to 1766, the next to go to the melting pot was No 3 of the original four ( No 4 in the five described above ). This was recast by Lester and Pack, so at this time we had;
Treble - Joseph Mallows - 1758
2 - Jesus be our Spede - 1598
3 - John Brend - 1572
4 - Lester and Pack - 1766
Tenor - Thomas Norris - 1652
The year 1806 is the next milestone in the story when the Norris tenor was removed, it's metal used to cast two smaller bells, making a ring of six with the Lester and Pack bell as tenor. Jesus be our Spede 1598 was also recast at this time by Thomas Mears so we had in 1806;
Treble - Thomas Mears - 1806
2 - Thomas Mears - 1806
3 - Joseph Mallows - 1758
4 - Thomas Mears - 1806
5 - John Brend - 1572
Tenor - Lester and Pack - 1766
Thus by this year all of the 1652 bells had disappeared and the above closely resembles what we have in this tower today, but not quite? In 1904 the Joseph Mallows bell met its fate, being recast by Mears and Stainbank and in 1909 the 1806 bell by Thomas Mears was recast ( one wonders why). Finally all were rehung in the year 2000, the John Brend bell being retained but replaced by a new bell as described above so today we have;
Treble - Thomas Mears - 1806
2 - Thomas Mears - 1806
3 - Mears and Stainbank - 1904
4 - Mears and Stainbank - 1909
5 - John Taylor - 2000
Tenor - Lester and Pack - 1766
Hung Dead - John Brend - 1572
While the tone of the Brend bell leaves much to be desired ( it can be chimed ) I'm glad it was retained as part of the history of this tower. As mentioned it is a shame these bells are not rung on a regular basis, as a considerable sum of money was spent on their renovation in 2000.
John Bennett