To commence this story we must return to the year 1770 when four new bells were installed in St Nicholas tower. These small bells were cast by Joseph Eayre at his St Neots foundry. Of interest are identical inscriptions on numbers three and four -“John Marshall, Adler Crapley, Gilbert Redhead.” Who were these men and why are their names on not just one, but two of the bells? Peter Butler is of the opinion that all three were ringers at Lutton , Peter telling me- Gilbert Redhead was a keeper of the village alehouse, a notorious toper who requested to be buried upright so nobody could say “here lies drunken Redhead”. “Yes”, said Peter with a chuckle, “in those days they probably drank much of their ale in the belfry”. Gilbert died in 1770, aged 56 years, a shield on the south wall of the chancel commemorating his death. Elsewhere he is described as “a patron of the church” so I imagine he had some money and influence. I visited the church on February 1st and saw the shield but was unable to read the weathered writing. Were he and Messrs Marshall and Crapley instrumental in providing those four bells? I like to think so but we shall probably never know.
In 1806 a fifth bell was added, not a treble but a tenor cast by Osborn and Dobson at Downham Market. Interestingly this suggests that the Eayre bells were in a minor key but in any case North (1882) tells us “These small bells are much out of tune; some think they would be better cast into one large bell”. Fortunately this advice was not taken and these “out of tune ”bells remained until April, 1905 when all ringing ceased as the bell frame was no longer secure. Taylor of Loughborough ‘s estimate for recasting Nos 1 to 4 ( the Eayre bells), retaining the Osborn tenor and re hanging all in a cast iron/steel frame was £139.16s. This was accepted though the final total cost including masons charges came to £205.4s.11d. Dedication was on October 5th 1905, Harvest Festival, and Peter’s records tell us that the new bells were rung for the first time by Rev, H.Law-James and his band from Surfleet- well I guess they were the A Team in those days. A treble bell was added in 1953, completing the six we know today. Apparently the Lutton ringers would have preferred a larger tenor rather than a treble but the costs were more than they could afford which was a shame as they would have had six bells with a tenor of about 7 cwts rather than the current one of 4 ½ cwts.
Felstead’s records indicate 49 peals here , the first , Grandsire Doubles rung on November 10th 1908 and the last, Seven Surprise on July 14th 2012. There were also numerous quarter peals recorded in a stiff backed exercise book, its pages now yellowing with age, and until recently owned by Peter but given by him to the church. Of particular note is a peal of Grandsire Doubles rung on November 22nd 1932, and conducted by Peter’s father, George R.G.Butler, with the foot note “the first local peal on the bells-all members of the choir” . I rather like that-not unique but none the less an achievement not reached in the majority of village towers.
Among the loose papers in Peter’s book I came across a folded programme, price 3d advertising “ A Grand Variety Concert” by the St Nicholas Concert Party of Lutton. This was in the days when Rev. Watnough was vicar and therefore must date from 1950 to 1952. I would normally not have taken great interest in this until I noticed that the complete Lutton band of ringers were recruited and in this concert demonstrated their best thespian-like talents. All of them performed , Peter’s mother and father, vocal numbers by Peter, Ray and Pauline and Pauline Stebbins (nee Campling) in one of the sketches playing “A young Flapper”. Ah Pauline-shame you are not still with us, you might have laughed at the memory.
Readers I have tried in this piece to highlight certain aspects of life as they were when villages such as Lutton were more self contained, Peter Butler’s father encouraged interest in bell ringing for many years and Peter afterwards but there were other local interests such as the amateur dramatics mentioned above. I believe those days have largely gone due to several causes, the impact of the car and easy transport, television etc. However this is, for better or worse, progress though oldies such as myself occasionally, on recalling those times cannot resist a creased nostalgic smile.
John Bennett