Ratcliffe on Soar
Holy Trinity

Bells

There are three bells in the tower that are of limited tonal value. Since they are of irregular interval (about a halftone between tenor and second and a tone and a half between second and treble), the chime is hardly musical. Henry Oldfield cast the second and tenor bell in the late 16th century. The treble added in 1783 was made by Hedderley of Nottingham. After an inspection of the bells in 1937 by Messrs John Taylor of Loughborough, they were found to be in an unsafe condition and were lowered to the floor. An appeal led by Lord Belper secured funds to re-hang them in a fixed position. The bells were re-hung 'dead' in May 1938 only to be silenced again by the ban on bell ringing in 1940 as a result of the invasion scare. Wires connected to cords from the tower base ring the bells by striking hammers.

Details of the bells are:

  Inscription Size Weight
1

* G.HEDDERLY FECIT NOTTM * IOHN CHAMBERLAIN C WARDEN

TO HONOUR OF BOTH GOD & KING : OUR VOICES SHALL IN CONSORT RING

1788

 25.5" 3.3.5
2

LAUD AND PRAISE TO GOD I SYNG AND SEND THEME HEVEN THAT HERYTH ME RENG MHSC

 29" 4.1.0
3

IHS BE MI SPED MHS

 30" 4.3.4

The meaning of the letters MHSC on the second and MHS on the tenor is not known.

The bells and bellframe Drawing of the
bellframe truss

The bellframe is an unusual late medieval survival. It is a short-headed frame with queen posts with a typology of Pickford Group 3.E (Elphick J variant) and has been tree-ring dated to the period 1478-1501, with construction likely to be in this period or shortly afterwards. A report on the dendrochronology of the bellframe is available for downloading.