Gotham
St Lawrence

Bells

A western tower and spire containing a ring of 5 bells.

  Inscription Size Weight
1

EDWARD VII - GEORGE V 1910

GOD SAVE THE KING
FREDERICK YEOMANS   CHURCHWARDENS
GEORGE TURNER  
26.75" 3.2.22
2

(i) FRAPPE FORT
(ii) AD GLORIAM DEI

FREDERICK ARMINE WODEHOUSE
ALICE WODEHOUSE 1910-

 29" 4.2.1
3 IESVS BEE OVR SPEED 1658 30.375" 4.1.4
4 I AM JOHN OF THE HALL DESIER 1598 33.125" 5.3.11
5 in G GOD SAVE THE CHVRCH OVR QVEENE AND REALME AND SEND VS PEACE IN CHRIST
1598		 35.5" 7.0.5

Hung in a cast-iron low-sided frame for 5 bells by Taylors of Loughborough in 1910 when they augmented them from 3 to 5. The back 3 have lost their canons. All are hung on cast-iron box section headstocks of 1910 with ball bearings fitted in 1972.

Phillimore visited on August 5th 1871: ‘there are three bell in the steeple which swing E & W.’ The inscriptions he gives are substantially correct.

The 2 trebles are by Taylors, the 3rd is the work of George I Oldfield and the two tenors are the work of his father, Henry II.

The lettering on the 4th is the type B set and on the tenor it is the fine small Roman type. Each word has a cable border and the words are separated by a diamond pattern of dots. This bell also has the fine badge which Henry II Oldfield seems to have reserved for major jobs. It is a development of the badge used jointly by Oldfield and Robert Quernbie used at Lincoln Cathedral and Ruskington in 1593. The name on the bell is the lord of the manor who gave it. There is also a shield of Elizabeth I on the skirts of the bell, similar to that of the ninth bell of St Mary, Nottingham.

The bells used to be rung from the ground floor until 1987 when a new ringing floor was inserted in the tower.

1552: three hells and a lytle bell called a saunce bell.
1740: 6 bells (clearly an error).

One of the bells Inside the ringing room The entrance to the tower Tower steps