Christchurch
Bells
When
Christchurch was opened in Oldbury in 1841, it had two bells, a new
one cast by Thomas Mears of London, and a bell from 1733 which had
been moved from the old chapel in the market place. The church
was not well endowed at this time, and its interior was
plain.
By the time of
Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1887, the Anglican church in Oldbury was
well established, better endowed, and Christchurch had been more
richly decorated. What was needed was a peal of bells to
herald the great events of the town, so a committee was appointed to
raise the money for new bells to celebrate the Jubilee.
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The
members of the Jubillee Bells Committee 1887. The Vicar of
Oldbury, Revd William Taylor, is seated second from the left,
with the Curate, Revd A D Pennington, on his left. A R Bone, a
local tobacconist, is third from the right. Other members have
yet to be identified.
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The
original church tower was not high enough to install the bells
and provide a suitable ringing chamber, so it was necessary
its raise its height by about sixteen feet, with the four
pinnacles adding a further nine feet. This change is
still evident today since the top section of the tower has
bricks of a different shade.
The
building work was carried out by Henry Harper of Oldbury to
the design of Wood and Kendrick, and they also installed the
wooden framework to support the bells.
The bells
were all donated, but the committee had to raise £320 for the
building work. |
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Christchurch in February
2009 showing the tower with the top section added in 1887. The
Sandwell flag is flying from the tower instead of the usual St
George's cross. [Photo: Dr T
Daniels] |
The
eight bells [1], in G, were cast by John Warner and Co,
Crescent Foundry, London, and have inscriptions recording their
donors:
1: Treble – ‘Given by the employees of the Alkali Works. H D
France, Manager. 1887’ – 3¾ cwt, 25¼ inches
2: ‘Given by George and Alfred Thompson of this town.
1887’ – 4 cwt, 26 ⅜ inches
3: ‘Given by Samuel Wright and Agnes Lydia, his wife. “Our
hope is in the Lord”. 1887’ – 4½ cwt, 28⅛
inches
4: ‘Given by John Smart Wakeman of this town. 1887’ –
5½ cwt, 30
inches
5: ‘Given by Mary Phoebe Palmer, South Abbotsfield,
Malvern. “We praise Thee O God” 1887’ – 6½ cwt, 32¼ .........................inches
6: ‘Given by Benjamin Hingley, the first MP for this
Division. 1887’ – 7 cwt, 33⅞
inches
7: ‘Given by Alexander Macomb Chance of Oldbury,
Birmingham. Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. 1887’ – 8¼
cwt, ........................ 35¾
inches
8: Tenor – ‘Given by Joseph Moore, the first organist of this
Church. 1887’ – 10½ cwt, 38¾ inches
Several of the
donors were local businessmen: George and Alfred Thompson were
maltsters in the town, John Smart Wakeman an iron merchant, and
Samuel Wright a preserve manufacturer. Alexander Macomb Chance
was the Managing Director of the Alkali Works. Mary Phoebe
Palmer was the daughter of William Freeth, former occupier of ‘The
Big House’ in Church Street, and the wife of Rev Palmer, who were
large landowners in the town.
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General
view up the tower of Christchurch - a confusion of bells,
mechanisms, light and ladders! |
The No 7 bell showing its
clapper and the hammer in the upper tier above the Tenor bell.
The inscription is between the double line. |
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The
interior of the tower showing three of the bells, 2, 4 &
6, in the upper tier and the sound openings in the part added
in 1887. |
Bell
mechanisms showing the wheel for swinging the bell, the
originalkclock hammer behind the bell and the other hammer in
the foreground |
Photographs by Dr T Daniels,
taken February 2009, before the installation of the latest
mechanism
The Felstead database [2]
records sixty-four valid peals rung on the bells
between 20 December 1887, a peal of Stedman Triples, and 26 June
1954, a peal Yorkshire Surprise Major. Apart from these
special peals, the bells were used regularly on Sundays and to mark
local activities.
They were rung
when Lord Roberts came to open a rifle range at Chance and Hunt’s
works on 4 April 1907, and this proved so popular that the Fourth of
April was declared ‘Lord Roberts Day’, and the
bells rung annually on that day in Oldbury. In 1908 the 'Weekly
News' reported [3]: "Saturday last being the first anniversary,
the Church bells were rung from 12 till 4, by the following: Messrs
J Jagger, Sen., J Ford, R Hall, J Jagger, Jun., J Bant, J Grigg, A
Savage, J Bird and J Parish. During the afternoon Councillor Parkes,
JP (chairman of the District Council), presented a cheque to the
ringers for the interest on £100, which Mr A M Chance invested for
that purpose twelve months ago...". The bell-ringing records of
Reuben Hall are held at Sandwell Archives [4].
John Jagger, who
kept the ‘Wrexham Hotel’ opposite the church, was the leader of the
bell-ringers at the time. His son, John Palmer Jagger, also a member
of the team, was killed at Gallipoli when serving with 4th
Worcestershire Regiment. In 1915 the bells were rung on 3
April because 4 April was Easter Day!
The bells were
rehung in 1937. At some point they were also fitted with a mechanism
whereby they could be sounded via hammers connected to fixed ropes
which were pulled outwards to sound the bell.
After WW2, the
bells were used less frequently, and by the mid-1960s, the bells
could not be rung regularly because of the state of the tower.
In the 1990s, the Church was saved from demolition and re-designed
to provide office accommodation in the nave and a worship area in
the chancel. Air-conditioning equipment was installed in the
ringing gallery, and a concrete floor placed just below the
bells. This made it impossible to swing the bells, although
the mechanism remained, and thus the Christchurch bells fell
silent.
The 1890
Clock
Once the bells
were operational, attention was paid to installing a new clock in
the tower, the original having stopped working. Again, a
committee was appointed, under the chairmanship of the vicar, Revd
William A Taylor, and the curate, Revd A D Pennington, BA. It
was the intention for the clock to strike the quarter hours by the
‘Cambridge’ (or as they are better known, the ‘Westminster’) Chimes,
and to strike the hours on the Tenor bell. Again, the
committee set about raising funds and identifying a supplier.
The committee is
recorded on the plaque that was to be fixed to the clock, an amended
draft of which is held at Sandwell Community History and Archives
Service [5]. Their archive includes the Treasurer’s Book for the
Clock Committee and various invoices and papers. The first donations
were made on 1 December 1889, and the largest donations came
from the town’s main benefactors, £20 each from Albright &
Wilson and Chance & Hunt, and £10 from Lewis Demuth of the tar
works, and an anonymous £20 donation. The total raised was
£195-7-0, and the project was supported by a wide range of companies
and individuals in Oldbury.
Midland Steam Clock
Works ............................
Queen Street and Market Place, Derby
February 1st
1890
To
Oldbury Public Clock Committee
We
John Smith and Sons hereby agree to make and erect a clock in
Oldbury Church Tower, to strike the hours on largest bell, to
chime the Cambridge quarters on four bells and have one
illuminated dial 4' 6"diameter, to be of the very best
material and best workmanship and as to the details in
accordance with our specifications and estimate and letters
addressed to Mr Sayer and Mr Jones. For the sum of one hundred
and twenty five pounds.
[Sandwell
Community History and Archives] |
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The ‘Weekly
News’ [6] described the new clock thus: “The new Church Clock is
fitted with all the latest improvements, and will be a standard for
the time-keeping of the town. It is guaranteed by the makers,
John Smith and Sons, Derby, to keep time to very great
accuracy. It has one illuminated dial five feet across, and
there is special automatic mechanism by which the gas lights are
turned up and down at the proper times. The Cambridge quarter
chimes are played upon the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th bells, and the
hours are struck upon the largest bell. The works of the clock
are of the best possible construction, all the wheels being of the
best gun metal, with machine cut teeth; all the pinions of the best
cast steel, all the bearings of gun metal; steel ropes are used for
the weights. The main frame is on one solid iron casting
planed smooth and true with all the various wheels, etc., affixed to
it by screws in such a manner that any separate one may be removed
without interfering with the remainder. This is a very great
convenience in large clocks.”
The clock was
started by Mrs Taylor, the Vicar’s wife, on 23rd June 1890.
After the short ceremony, the newspaper reports, “... members of
the Society of the Archdeaconry of Stafford rang a date touch (1890)
of grandsire triples, J W Sayer, treble, T Horton 2, J Frisby 3, W S
Small 4, R Hall 5, J Hall 6, S Reeves (conductor) 7, R Gold 8.
Time 1 hour 4 minutes.”
The invoices
include one covering a celebration from 'The Talbot Inn', Oldbury,
dated 24th June 1890 for refreshments and drinks totalling £2 17s
5d. It includes 47 glasses of whisky, 3 of brandy and 1 of port, 17
sodas and 2 lemonades, together with 41 cigars. A bottle of stout
was provided for the police and a pint of bitter for the cabby!
Despite this, there was a small surplus after all the immediate
expenses had been paid. This was used to provide two guineas
per year to have the clock wound, and when the fund was finally
closed in 1911 [7], £2 19s 5d was left to be paid to the Vicar
towards future costs of overhauling and maintaining the
clock.
The gas lights
in the tower were replaced by electricity at some point, but the
chimes eventually fell silent.
Rejuvenation
Under Canon John
Barnett, the Vicar of Oldbury, a fund was established in 2006 to
overcome the silence of the tower. The bells could not be
swung again because of the weakness of the tower and the changes
made when the church was restored in the 1990s. Campanologists
would have to remain disappointed! However, it was still
possible to strike the bells and to install electronic controls to
re-instate the chimes to the clock and provide suitable peals for
special occasions. The cost of the project was around
£15,000.
The
interior of the clock in February 2009, before the
installation of the new chiming mechanism.
One of the
original hammers, removed during the installation of the
chiming mechanism. It is 36 inches long and weighs
18lbs.
Photcs: Dr
T Daniels |
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The original
clock hammers were removed, and smaller modern hammers installed by
English Clockmakers during 2009. The clock again sounds the
quarters with the Cambridge (or Westminster) Chimes and the hours on
the tenor. At the push of a button, it is now possible to play
various peals and tunes on the bells.
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The Bishop of Birmingham
addresses the gathering, and the Mayor, Cllr Geoff Lewis, makes
an amusing point at the rededication of the
bells. [Photos: Dr T
Daniels] |
At a short
ceremony on Thursday 17th September the Bishop of Birmingham, Rt
Revd David Urquhart, rededicated the bells and they pealed out
across the town.
The peal, the
half-hour chime and the tune ‘Here comes the bride’ recorded at
rededication, with extraneous sounds of celebration, can be played
here:
..........Listen to the
bells [3
minutes]
References
This article © Dr Terry Daniels
2009 - contact
for permission to reproduce |