Bell Tower - Church of St Mary, Raynham Park, East Raynham, Norfolk. NR21 7ER. - Bell Towers on Waymarking.com

This Estate Church in Raynham Park was rebuilt by the 5th Marquis of Townshend 'At His Sole Cost' between 1866 and 1868 by Clark and Holland of Newmarket, Architects, at a total cost of £7,000 and the dedication was on April 17th 1868, the Friday of Easter Week. Now listed Grade II* it is built of flint with stone dressings and slated roofs, except for a leaded chancel. Despite the building dates this is not High Victorian in style but still "archaeological" Decorated / Perpendicular in detail and form following in plan the church it replaced. Consisting of a west tower, clerestoried nave, north and south aisles, north and south porches, chancel and a south transept. The tower is square buttressed and battlemented with pinnacles with a south stairs turret with lancets, also battlemented . The west three-light window is Perpendicular, and the two-light belfry windows are Decorated, there are also two quatrefoil windows to the clock room. It contains a ring of eight bells hung for ringing in the English style, and a clock bell to sound the hours.

The original church would have been of the C11th, contemporary with the church in West Raynham. This latter church fell into disuse in the C18th and was abandoned, the East Raynham church taking over as the place of worship for the three Raynham villages. In East Raynham church - the original C11th one - there were four heavy bells, three of which were sold to pay for repairs in 1734. This last bell weighed 20cwt and was inscribed: JOHN DARBIE MADE ME 1670. THOMAS WILKINSON, CHURCH WARDEN and was sold in 1868 when the 'new' church was built. It was most likely broken up and the metal used in other bells, conservation of old bells was yet to be the norm. When the church was rebuilt in 1868 the Whitechapel bellfoundry cast a new ring of three bells for the church. These were rung from a cavernous room immediately below the bell chamber. By the 1990’s the bells had become extremely difficult to handle and in 2003, more than 130 years after the original installation, the same firm completed the octave by adding numbers 1 to 5 to the existing three. The new bells were gifted by both various members of the Townshend family and by local people. They are now rung from a splendid new gallery in the tower reached by a staircase from the ground floor. The bells are rung for divine service by arrangement, weddings and other special occassions. Practice night is Monday.

For further details of the history of the bells and the fund raising by Lord Raynham go to:- Raynham Bells

The following is a table extracted from Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers showing the bell weights in kg, the sounding notes of the bells, and the bell founder.

          Bell 	  Weight         Note          Dated 	      Founder
            1     184.16          G            2002         Whitechapel Bell Foundry Ltd
            2     196.86          F#           2002         Whitechapel Bell Foundry Ltd
            3     215.91          E            2002         Whitechapel Bell Foundry Ltd
            4     241.31          D            2002         Whitechapel Bell Foundry Ltd
            5     279.41          C            2002         Whitechapel Bell Foundry Ltd
            6     308.44          B            1868         Mears & Stainbank
            7     373.76          A            1868         Mears & Stainbank
            8     497.59          G            1868         Mears & Stainbank
          clock   114.31                       1867         John Warner & Sons

George Mears and Robert Stainbank were the founders at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry between 1865 and 1883. This was a family-owned business started in 1420 by Richard Chamberlain in Spitalfields and has been at the Whitechapel site for over 250yrs. Regretfully the firm is due to close in May 2017. John Warner & Sons was the last name of the Warner firm founded in Cripplegate, London in 1850 by John II Warner. John II was a successor of John I Warner who cast bells at the Whitechapel foundry.

Words from British Listed Buildings, Simon Knott's Norfolk Churches, Pevsner's Norfolk 2 Buildings, Lord Raynham's page, and Norwich Diocesan Association of Ringers bell pages with amendments from own on site observations.

Coordinates are for the west tower.

Address of Tower: Church of St Mary Raynham Park East Raynham, Norfolk UK NR21 7ER Number of bells in tower?: 9 Rate tower: Tours or visits allowed in tower?: Yes Still Operational: Not Listed Relevant website?: Not listed

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