Averham St Michael and All Angels

Bells

The bells in 2011

A western stone tower containing a ring of six bells. All the bells carry the same inscription:

THOMAS MEARS FOUNDER LONDON

with, at the waist:

REVD THOMAS MANNERS SUTTON RECTOR
WILLIAM WEIGHTMAN CHURCHWARDEN 1840

Other details of the bells are:

	Size	Weight
1	30"	5.2.17
2	32"	6.2.10
3	34¼"	7.1.15
4	37"	9.1.15
5	39¼"	9.3.11
6 F	43½"	12.3.22

Before 2012 the bells were hung in a low-sided oak frame (type V), wooden headstocks and plain bearings on the back five, all in poor condition due to lack of maintenance. The treble was rehung on a cast iron headstock and ball-bearings in 1979.

The bells are all by Thomas II Mears of the Whitechapel bell foundry, London. Prior to 1840 there were three bells dated respectively 1599, 1604 and 1613, which weighed in all 17¾ cwt. All three almost certainly came from the Oldfield foundry in Nottingham.

In 2012/3 the bells were rehung in a new fabricated steel frame, with fittings by Taylors. The canons were removed, and the bells retuned.