Eastwood
St Mary

Bells

The single bell in the medieval church was re-installed in the low brick tower of 1764 and when this was demolished in the 1850s it was moved to St James’ Codnor. Bulmer’s Directory of Derbyshire of 1895 records that

‘the tower (of St James’) contains one bell, brought from Eastwood old church when that edifice was pulled down, and bears the inscription “God save the Queen, 1713". It has an oak leaf design round the shoulder’

The design indicates that the bell was cast at George Oldfield’s bell foundry in Nottingham. As the bell is dated 1713, and the tower in which it hung was 1764, the only reasonable assumption is that it originally hung in the tower of the first church and was re-installed in the low brick tower of 1764. There is no bill of sale preserved in the church archives, but there is an entry in the Churchwarden’s account which reveals the price which the authorities at St James’ paid to their counterparts at Eastwood: ‘14th Oct, 1858, To the Committee for Building Eastwood Church for the Old Bronze Bell, £26 9s 7d’.

When the question of bells arose for the new church in the 1850s, the Building Committee decided on a peal of four. Enquiries were made of Messrs Naylor and Vickers of Sheffield, resulting in the following letter, dated April 1858:

‘To the Building Committee of Eastwood Church, nr Nottingham.
Gentlemen,

Referring to the conversation we have had this day with a deputation from your Committee, we beg to offer you the following peal of four Cast Steel Bells, viz.

Tenor                                    1307 lbs.                 
3   937 lbs.
2   804 lbs.
Treble   730 lbs.
Total weight 3778 lbs at l0d per lb £157 8s 4d
To which add Yokes and Wheels £31 19s 0d
making the total cost of the Peal £189 7s 4d

As explained to your Deputation, the above four bells form part of a Peal of six, and as we would prefer not to “separate” (sic) the Bells, and in order that you may hear the great superiority of a peal of six bells over one of four, we propose supplying you with the remaining two bells of the Peal on the condition that if you retain them beyond twelve months from the date of delivery you pay for the same, but you are at liberty to return them at any time within this period. We trust, however, that you will eventually retain them.

The two bells are:
Tenor weighing 2090 lbs
Treble weighing 450 lbs

Total lbs 2540 at 10d per lb £105 16s 8d
to which add Yokes and wheels £17 11s 8d
making their total cost £123 8s 4d

We can offer you a smaller peal of four Cast Steel Bells, say, Tenor 937 lbs, 3rd, 804 lbs, 2nd 730 lbs, Treble 450 lbs.
Total weight 2921 lbs at l0d. £121 14s 2d

Yokes and Wheels for the same £28 15s 8d
Total cost Delivered in Sheffield £150 9s 10d

This latter Peal is an excellent one for its size, but the superiority of the Peal named on the first page is so great, and the additional cost only about £39 that we cannot but strongly recommend the heavier peal both for your own reputation as well as that of our own.

We shall be happy to give you any further information you may require, and waiting for your reply.

We remain Gentlemen,
Yours respectfully
Jno Naylor & Vickers & Co
Wm G Cooley.

As a result, the peal of six steel bells was accepted. In addition to the cost of the bells, the railway had to be paid for transporting them from Sheffield. An entry in the Account book reads:

‘The Midland Railway, for carriage of Bells as per bill £6.11s.10d. This is not considered an unreasonable charge for that period of time, remembering that nearly three tons of a very cumbersome type of merchandise-if church bells can be included in that category-from Sheffield to Eastwood.’

If the casting of steel bells was an experiment by Naylor and Vickers, it eventually proved unsuccessful. Following a letter of enquiry to Messrs John Taylor, the bell founders of Loughborough, extracts from their very courteous reply are quoted herewith.

‘The tower [of Eastwood church] did indeed contain a peal of steel bells, but we have never made steel bells, and so we could not have increased the peal from six to eight. Steel bells were only produced by a Sheffield firm for a short while in the 19th century, and were given up because of their extremely poor tone. Before long they begin to rust and deteriorate rapidly.’

Presumably, this was the experience regarding the original peal that was installed in Eastwood church tower, although they gave service for 47 years. Before 1905 the decision was made to replace them with a peal of eight made of the more conventional and rustproof bell metal. Taylors of Loughborough removed the old six steel bells, and a peal of “Eight Taylors” was installed.

The letter continues:

“The present peal of eight bell metal bells, replacing the steel bells, was cast and installed by us in 1905. The bells were re-hung by us on new bearings.

  Diameter Tone cwt qtr lbs Inscription
Treble 2ft 4ins Eb 5 1 6 A Wyld, J T Pollard, J Parnham A Pollard, P Pollard, A Parker, Fred Rowley
2nd 2ft 5ins D 5 2 22  
3rd 2ft 7ins C 6 0 3  
4th 2ft 9½ins Bb 7 0 3  
5th 3ft ½ins Ab 8 2 12  
6th 3ft 2½ins G 9 3 0  
7th 3ft 6½ins F 12 3 23 A H Plumtre Rector
John Sheldon, George Jordan Churchwardens
Tenor 4ft 11ins Eb 19 0 21 Gift of theWright and Plumtree families 1904
Sing Praises

The treble bell, which is the smallest, is known as the Ringer’s Bell, and bears the names of the team of bell ringers at the time of installation. All the bells bear the name of the makers, John Taylor and Company, of Loughborough,

During the 1939-45 World War, in 1940 when an invasion by enemy parachute troops was feared, church bells throughout the country were silent; the arrangement was that should the invasion take place, the bells would be rung as a signal to alert the military and Home Guard. It was argued that this automatically placed the churches in the category of military targets, but several churches were bombed in any case.

Some Eastwood people can still recall with nostalgic emotion the thrill of hearing “the bells of St Mary’s” when invasion no longer threatened. Younger children at that time listened with bewilderment, for they had never heard church bells before. The names of a representation of those who pealed our “Eight Taylors” are:

Ringers in 1914, and for many years after:

EDWARD PILKINTON, WALTER POLLARD, TOM BEARDSLEY, PERCY POLLARD, JACK POLLARD (father), ELlJAH SMITH, HERBERT SMITH, FRANK NIX, JOSEPH JOHNSON.