Church of St.Mary, Church Hill, Pakenham, Suffolk. IP31 2LN. - Bell Towers on Waymarking.com

This is a Grade I listed parish church of the C12th which has had extensions over the years and a major restoration and further extension in 1849. The restoration was carried out under the direction of Mr.Samuel Sanders Teulon (2 March 1812 – 2 May 1873) who was born in Grenwich, the son of a cabinet-maker from a French Huguenot family. He became famous as a English Gothic Revival architect noted for his use of polychrome brickwork and the complex planning of his buildings.

The church of St.Mary is of Cruciform plan, with, originally, a low central tower of coursed rubble flint to the lower stage with later freestone diagonal buttresses. The octagonal C14th upper part has cusped 2-light windows and a crenellated parapet rebuilt in gault brick.

The bells in the tower are hung for full-circle ringing in the traditional English manner, but are arranged in an anti-clockwise pattern, the bells increasing in weight to the right from the treble rather than the more common to the left. There used to be a rather lumpy five, they were of various ages from a 1626 casting by John Draper, a 1760 casting by Lester & Pack, two bells from the foundry of George Mears in 1862 then a third from the same foundry in 1872. The bells were difficult to ring and following a restoration project where strengthening girders were placed in the tower they were much better and warranted the addition of a treble to complete the six and make the number of changes and methods which could be rung more of a challenge. This was done with a 1999 casting from the original George Mears/Mears & Stainbank/Whitechapel Bell Foundry Ltd in London.

One of the ways the bells used to be rung when there was an insufficient number of ringers was by using a chiming apparatus in which the clappers of the bells were connected to treadles in a frame by ropes and pulleys. This method of ringing the bells requires only one ringer and the apparatus is still there though not useable any more. It is firmly bolted to the ringing chamber floor, the holes through which the connecting ropes once went have been blocked up as part of the restoration work done in 1993. This is the first frame of this type that I have seen in over 50years of ringing and visiting church bell towers in the UK and overseas although there are still a number of Ellerman frames which were designed to do the same thing but without the treadles.

The following is an extract from Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers with the bell weights given in kg, the note the bell sounds, the date of casting, and the founder:-

       1        258.55    D     1999 	Whitechapel Bell Foundry Ltd 	 	
       2        274.88    C     1872 	Mears & Stainbank 		
       3        313.43    Bb    1626 	John Draper 		
       4        476.72    A     1760 	Lester & Pack 		
       5        480.81    G     1862 	George Mears 		
       6        528.89    F     1862    George Mears

Address of Tower: Church of St.Mary Church Hill Pakenham, Suffolk UK IP31 2LN Still Operational: yes Number of bells in tower?: 6 Rate tower: Tours or visits allowed in tower?: Yes Relevant website?: Not listed

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