Writing in 1882 Thomas North tells us Long Sutton St Marys tower contained “a ring of six bells by Henry Penn of Peterborough dated 1716.” The diameter of the tenor was 39 1/2 “ indicating a weight of about 11 cwts. He also writes; “Here is a chiming apparatus ( an Ellacombe) by Messrs J.Jerram and Blackborn erected in 1878. The state of the belfry might be much improved.” Penn’s foundry operated from 1703 to 1729, and during these years he cast 128 bells. Readers may recall there was a dispute between Penn and the church authorities at St Ives regarding the tonal quality of bells he supplied for their church. This resulted in a court action which he won, but mounting his horse directly after the hearing he suffered a fatal heart attack. This was during 1729 and so ended the Peterborough foundry. None of the six bells he cast for St Marys remain today.
In 1856, the Reverend Charles Jerram, grandfather of J. Jerram mentioned above, describes aspects of daily life at Long Sutton towards the end of the 1700’s . Appointed Curate in Charge, he arrived he tells us, on 15th March 1797, checking in at the Bull Inn having ridden from Blidworth ( near Mansfield ). “I was informed” he says, “that the inhabitants of Long Sutton were mostly respectable, but the lower class was generally profane, disorderly and addicted to drunkenness and that the Sabbath was almost universally desecrated by buying and selling, by excessive drinking and consequent quarrels”. Oh dear! Furthermore, on going to St Marys to conduct his first Sunday service, his predecessor was still there, robed and ready but certainly unready to give way to Rev. Jerram. A letter to the Bishop solved this problem though I get the impression that the earlier curate was popular in the village whereas Rev. Jerram was not, which judging from his actions in Long Sutton, was not surprising.
Attendance at church was irregular, the cause “buying and selling , shops open late, with agricultural mechanics and labourers not in church but rather in those hot beds of vice, (ie the pubs) drunkenness and riot the prevalent orgies” Well in this they certainly had plenty of choice for as late as the 1940’s and 50’s there were eighteen pubs in Long Sutton. To cut a long story short, Rev. Jerram managed, with help of the village constable to close the village shops, which until his time opened on the Sabbath, but I doubt his tenure at Long Sutton was a happy one. His successor, on checking into The Bull was informed by the hostess “I’m glad Rev. Jerram is going. He has destroyed all trade in the town. This inn used to be one of the best in the neighbourhood” One other amusing snippet ( though not for the perpetrators) occurred in 1815, at nearby Whaplode . “Two boys taken into custody for playing marbles on Sunday. One was fined 3s 4d, and the other was put in the stocks” Times were certainly different in those days.
In 1847 Reverend Leigh-Bennett became vicar of Long Sutton, I believe the first resident vicar in the village. He died in 1886 and during ringing for his funeral the Penn tenor cracked and was recast the following year by Mears of London. Thus the first of the 1716 bells had gone. Fourteen years later in 1900 during the Boer War, it was reported that “a merry peal was rung on St Mary’s bells in honour of the relief of Kimberley by General French” and on the Queens birthday, someone used the Ellacombe Apparatus to chime the National Anthem .
So readers, we enter the twentieth century and arrive at the next major episode in the story of St Mary’s bells. In 1934 all six bells were recast by Taylors of Loughborough with additional metal resulting in the excellent ring of eight currently in the tower. I wonder, who was the prime mover in promoting this expensive scheme and did at that time a change ringing band exist at Long Sutton? One would think so but although 91 peals have been rung here, there is no evidence to suggest any local ringers participated. Unlike Gedney or Fleet , Long Sutton ringing room is completely devoid of peal boards or records of performances or names of long gone ringers. Its walls are completely bare. Despite this they have in my opinion both tonally and acoustically, the finest ring of eight bells in the district.
Acknowledgements; History of Long Sutton and District by F W and B Robinson 1981. Long Suttons Old Inns and a Little of the Past by K Barber. George Dawson Archivist at Taylors Bell Foundry