In visiting churches my interest is generally concentrated on their towers and what is in them, always a sense of anticipation to those of the bell ringing fraternity, even single bells such as that at St Mathews. However, more about this bell after first a few words about the history of the church which was consecrated on August 29th 1843.
The finance came via Guys Hospital Trustees founded by one Thomas Guy ( 1644 to 1724) whose wealth was considerably enhanced by sale of shares in the British South Sea Company ( the South Sea Bubble). These he purchased early in 1711 and then, while others were frantically buying, sold in tranches of £10,000 realising a profit of some £34,000 all accomplished before the whole lot went bust. Guys Hospital Trustees later in 1746 bought the 5500 acre estate including the site of what was to become Sutton Bridge from a Thomas Metcalfe . To all accounts it was a profitable investment yielding rental income of some 6 shillings per acre. Guy’s resident agent was a William Skelton who for many years was active in promoting local projects, which presumably included amongst others, St Mathews Church.
Pevsner tells us the church is constructed of “knapped flint with stone dressings, the west tower with a funny square top on the stair turret” He also informs us , “ a Joseph Longlands, architect and surveyor of Sutton Bridge made unexecuted plans” for this church which begs the question, who did design the building and why were Longland’s plans not used? I believe the cost was about £7000.
Access to the mezzanine floor , clockroom and bell chamber is via a spiral, internally mounted steel staircase capped by the turret mentioned by Pevsner. During my visit last November I noted that the single bell had, years ago ,been rung from the mezzanine and continuing upwards I found the clock room, clock by Smiths in good condition and then further above the bell chamber. This single bell was cast in 1843 by Thomas Mears of London, has a diameter of 411\2 inches and weighs about 13 cwts , quite large for a single bell which inspired me to contemplate whether It was ever intended to use this bell as a tenor for perhaps a ring of six bells. Wistful thinking I’m afraid. The bell is hung for full circle ringing in a substantial wooden frame, plain bearings complete with stay and slider ( which I could just about move), no rope with the wheel in poor condition, minus all of its shrouds. I doubt that this bell has been rung for many years, indeed at Spalding’s Gentlemans Society I came across a reference taken from “Our Parish and Church” dated 1972 which informs us “ Our bell has to be chimed rather than rung” the reason being “light construction of the frame” This surprised me as considering the bell had been installed in 1843 and presumably the frame is the original and had given good service for the ensuing 129 years how could it have become, by 1972 “lightly constructed”? I’m afraid statements such as this are not uncommon in bell ringing circles. However irrespective of the frame the bell is indeed unringable, the wheel alone requiring a complete rebuild or replacement.
An interesting visit and In writing this article I should like to thank Christine Marchant for the information re Pevsner and Rev. Paul Carey-Slater for permission to visit St Mathews tower.
John Bennett