One of Bob
## More about St Pauls Church Bells, FulneyA few days ago while browsing through books on local history, of which there is a considerable collection in Long Sutton library, I came across a reference to Fulney church which included information on its bells. A report in the Lincolnshire Free Press of early November 1880 tells us;
“The walls of the campanile are four feet thick and it contains a peal of eight tunable bells, beautifully cast by Mr Lewis, the bell founder of Brixton, the tenor weighing 16cwt. These bells are hung in cast iron cages on two levels, admirably contrived and executed by John Wright, an ingenius mechanic of Spalding” The report then goes on the give the individual inscriptions on each bell, including on No 3 “Charlotte Charington our Benefactress”
Holes, now capped, in the ringing room floor plus matching holes in the ceiling suggest that three or four of the bells, as hung by Mr Wright, could be rung or most probably chimed from the ground floor . Unfortunately Mr Wright’s cages could not have been satisfactory as there is no record of any peal ringing until one of Bob Major rung on February 11th 1902 by which time the bells had been rehung (1889) in a composite oak/cast iron frame by John Taylor of Loughborough, which remains in use today . The only mention of any ringing prior to 1889 is a reference in Felstead’s reports, “Grandsire Triples, 13th August,1885”, no indication of the number of changes rung. From this one can perhaps assume that the Grandsire Triples, possibly an attempt at a touch or longer length failed due difficulty in ringing these bells. Without further research I wonder whether Miss Charington’s £30,000, used for the construction of the church also paid for the 1889 rehanging. If not I wonder who did pay for what must have been a considerable extra expense only nine years after the “cast iron cages”.