Widmerpool
St Peter

Bells

The western tower contains a ring of 3 bells:

 

Inscription

Size

Weight

1.

[X146]  JESUS BE OUR SPEED Waist:  W 1612 O

29.75'

c 5 cwt

2.

[+44]   GOD SAVE HIS CHURCH  1609 [40]

32' 

5.2.22

3.

(i).  GOD [39] SAVE [39] HIS [39] CHURCH [39]  1592

(ii). [+5]

35.375'

7.0.7.
The bells Detail of Bell 2

Hung dead from back to back steel channels, with chiming clappers, the bells were hung dead in 1986 after being on the church floor for several years. Two of the bells are second-hand. The treble is the work of William Oldfield of Doncaster and was originally the second of four at Woolley, Yorkshire. The second is by Henry II Oldfield, as is the tenor which was originally at Shelford, Nottinghamshire. The exchanges were undertaken to give Widmerpool a ring in a major key, as the old bells were each a semitone apart. The old ring was:

 

Inscription

Size

Weight

1.

GOD [46] SAVE [46] HIS [46] CHVRCH [46]  1703 [46]

30'

5.2.8

2.

The existing second.

 

 

3.

GOD [46] SAVE [46] HIS [46] CHVRCH [46] [59] [46]  1658 [46

36'

c 7.5 cwt

 

That treble, cast by William Noone of Nottingham, is now the third of six at Immingham, Lincolnshire, whilst the tenor became the fourth of six at Shelford to convert that ring from a minor to a major key.

In the 1552 Inventory of Church Goods, there were: 'iij bells in the steple and a sanctus bell, a hand bell, a sacryng bell'

1740: 5 bells (probably an error)

1764: three bells

Note: The numbers in [  ] are badge numbers as in 'Church Bells of Nottinghamshire' by George A Dawson. A plaque on the tower wall states:

George Dawson of Willoughby and his friends re-hung our bells in 1986. For their expertise and labour freely given the Parochial Church Council is deeply grateful