Bingham
St Mary and All Saints

Bells

There is a western tower containing a ring of 8 bells.

  Inscription Date Size Weight
1

M & S LONDON

THE CHILDREN OF BINGHAM GAVE ME, 1922
SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN TO COME UNTO ME

 1922 28½" 4.3.26
2

MEARS & STAINBANK, FOUNDERS, LONDON

H.R.M.HUTT. GAVE ME, 1922.
RING OUT THE FALSE, RING IN THE TRUE.

 1922 29¾" 5.1.3
3

E. MERO MOTU HIC HABITANTUM MDCCXXX

RECAST 1922

 1730 31¼" 5.3.15
4

FRANNCES WATTES MADE ME

RECAST 1922

 1589
(?)		 33¼" 6.3.0
5

THOMAS CHETTLE CHURCH WARDEN 1774
THOS HEDDERLEY FOUNDER

 1774 35" approx. 7cwt
6 GOD SAVE THE CHVRCH 1622 1622 37" approx. 8cwt
7 E HANE R BROOKS CHVRCHWARDENS 1743
Tho Hedderley Founder		 1743 41½" approx. 12¼cwt

8 in
E flat

all men that heare my mornful sound repent before you lie in ground R CAVNT T DEREY G MORELEY WARDENS 1647

GO

 1647 45¼" 14.3.27
The bells on the ground
in the churchyard in 1922
(The clock mechanism
can also be seen here.)

In 1922 all the bells were brought down and remedial work undertaken on the tower. The two smallest bells were recast, and the ring was augmented from 6 bells to 8 (the current treble and second being added). The bells were rehung in the 18th Century wooden frame, but to accommodate the extra bells the frame had to be repositioned diagonally in the tower and the fourth bell hung in a cast-iron extension above the third. This means that the ropes need to be channelled down to the ringing room in markedly angled rope guides.

Amongst the bells
(The 4th is hung
above the others)

The fittings were refurbished by Eayre & Smith in 1982.

The front 4 bells are by the Whitechapel Foundry, 3 and 4 being recasts of two older bells. The 5th and 7th bells are the work of Thomas I Hedderly of Nottingham, the 7th being one of the earliest bells by him. The 6th bears the badges used by George I Oldfield and Paul Hutton. Hutton was a foreman founder associated with the Nottingham founders from c1606 to his retirement in 1647. The tenor bell is the work of George I Oldfield, it also bears the initials GO which probably indicate his son George II.

Summary details
displayed in the
ringing room		 Cut-away drawing
of the tower

The previous 3rd (then the treble) was probably by Daniel Hedderly in 1730, and the old 4th was cast by Francis Watts of Leicester. It is by repute an Armada bell cast in 1589 which would make Bingham one of the earliest rings of 5 in the county. (Although the foundry was in Leicester, Francis Watts was a native of Bingham and is believed to be buried in the churchyard, but his grave cannot be located.)

There would appear to be an early tradition of ringing here. In fact the enthusiasm of the ringers landed them in the Archdeacons Court:

Tuesday 15th November 1782.
Against John Baxter son of Samuel Baxter, Wm. Clifton, Joseph Frank, Samuel Widdowson, William Doncaster the younger and Thomas Wood for riotously going into the parish Church of Bingham, Ringing the bells and for quarrelling, chiding and Brawling in the Parish Church and Churchyard of Bingham on Monday the First day of April last.

The charge was finally dismissed at the next Court. In this way the names of the majority of the band are known. They were obviously highly competent for the following report occurred in the Nottingham Journal:

A few evenings ago a young tradesman of Bingham, betted a friendly bottle of wing, that he rung any one of the six bells in that steeple, at the first trial thro’ either the peals of Grandsire bob, or college single bob, BLINDFOLD! the last mentioned peal being fixt upon for him; he accordingly on Tuesday evening acquitted hinself thro’ the arduous task almost without a clash upon any of the other bells, to the satisfaction of all then present.

According to tradition, it was repeated when the Sherwood Youths (the Nottingham ringers) disbelieved the report.

The leading light appears to have been Samuel Baxter who died on 2nd December 1789, aged 73 years when he was described as ‘a singer and change ringer’. The Nottingham Journal recorded that after his burial on 6th December ‘a dumb peal of 720 changes Grandsire Bob’ was rung and next day ‘another mourning peal of 720 changes College Single Bob was performed; which was succeeded by 720 of Oxford Single Bob; the latter with the bells open.’