Bunny
St Mary

Bells

There are 6 bells, two of which were given by Sir Thomas Parkyns the wrestler. The details of the six bells are as follows:

  Inscription Size Weight
1

THOMAS PARKYNS SECVNDVS BARONETTVS ANNO DOMIMI 1702

 30½" 5.2.5
2

DEDIS NOS CANTARE DOMINO NOVVM CANTICVM 1702

 32½" 6.0.20
3

I sweetly toling men do call to taste on meats that feeds the soole 1629

 36" 8.0.5
4

In noe ihu xpi ome genu flectat celestiu trestm iustorum

1599

GOD SAVE THE CHVRCH OVR QVEENE AND REALME AND SEND VS PEACE IN CHRIST AMEN

 37½" 8.1.0
5

PUBLICA SORS PONS WESTMONASTERENSIS PIETA THOMAE PARKYNS BAR: LOQUI DEDIT ORE ROTUNDO A:D:1740

... T.E ...

 38¼" 8.3.25

6
F#

Hec Campana Sacra Fiat Trinitate Beata

RECAST 1955

*   *   *

WILLIAM METCALF   VICAR
ALFRED JARVIE   WARDENS
ROBERT LACEY  
43½" 14.1.22

The treble and 2nd are by William Noone, the third by George (I) Oldfield, the fourth by Henry (II) Oldfield, and the fifth the work of Thomas Eayre of Kettering. This last is an unusual appearance of his work in the county, and perhaps indicates the poor state of the Nottingham founders at the time.

Before recasting the tenor bore the Mellours foundry badges, but must have been the work of Robert Quernby. The old bell measured 42" and weighed 13.1.22.

At the base of the tower is a small chiming barrel by which the bells were rung from 1897 to 1955.

The spire was found to be faulty in 1936 so funds were raised in the Rev W Metcalf’s time to have it repaired in 1955. At the same time a grant of £750 from the Barron Bell Trust helped towards moving the windlass arrangement and having the bells properly rehung for full-circle ringing. A further £300 was raised by the parishioners. When at Taylors foundry in Loughborough it was found that the tenor had to re-cast because it was chipped.

The old wooden frame was found to be infested with death-watch beetle, and the bells we rehung in 1955 in a cast-iron H-frame by Taylors.

It appears that in the 18th Century there was a competent band of ringers, probably supported by the Parkyns family. A manuscript notebook survives which belonged to Robert Rowbotham, a Bunny cooper. It contains many methods copied from Campanalogia Improved (dated 1733), together with a series of methods composed by Rowbotham with Bunny names such as “Bunny Delight”, “Bunny Scholars Pleasure”, etc.