History of The Bells at North Marston
At North Marston there were originally 5 Bells and a Blank Sanctus
Here are some details about the original 5 Bells
1 - James Keene 1627
2 - James Keene 1627
3 - James Keene 1627
4 - Richard Chandler 1699
5 - Lester & Pack 1763
Sanctus - Circa 17 century - Blank
In 1925 there was enough money to Recast, Augment and Rehang the Bells to make a Ring of Six Bells. They were rehung in a Cast Iron frame with modern fittings and the Second is on the Second tier of the Bell Frame. The Sanctus is hung up high in the belfry on an old beam of the original Bellframe.
The details of the Bells can be found on the Bells page
Here is the Bell Frame Plaque:
If you click on this link, you can find a picture of the Ringing area in 1944
In 1985 the old clock mechanism was lowered from the tower and was replaced with an electronic clock, which is extremely small compared to the size of the old one, the old clock was left at the back of the church, the chiming apparatus on the Tenor Bell still exists, but is no longer used as it does not work with the clock that we presently have, here is a picture of That clock:
OLD CLOCK NEW CLOCK
According to the plaque that is just underneath the clock, this clock was "probably made locally from a kit"
The bells were not rung for a number of years (this was sometime after 1990) most probably due to a lack in number of ringers, but could have been for other reasons. So practices and service ringing were not taking place. All the things that you can see on the tower notice board (in the link above) were taken from the walls may possibly be in the dissused clock room, we have yet to find out.
The only time the bells were really rung was at Christmas time when the Granborough Ringers (aided by the few ringers we had) came over for service ringing. The Granborough ringers also came over a few times for practices during the silent period. In this period our present tower captain arrived and since then ringing in the village has livened up every year.
The next major thing that happened to the tower was that the outside layers of it were replaced with new stone this took around 3-4 Years to do.
Before: While its going on: After:
Nothing was done to the Bells during this period, apart from they were not rung and the ropes were taken from the wheels to protect them whilst work was underway. And once completed the Ropes were replaced.
During 2007 we got the bells ringing a lot more. Starting with just 3rd Sunday ringing. Then sharing a once a month, Monday practice with Winslow. Then in October, we started to ring on First, Third and Fifth Sundays.
From 2008 the Bell Ringers may have their own separate practice, once again. We hope to have support from many towers around us so that we can liven up Village life once more.