This is an early C14th Parish church remodelled in the C15th and now Grade I listed. The originally detatched tower is of late C13th origin. The church is built to a simple plan, nave, aisles and chancel in line with the south aisle in line with the tower. The church was first rendered in1835, the tower restored in 1843 and the remainder in1853. Built in Barnack stone and some brick it has slate and lead roofs.
The south-west tower was originally detached. It is in three stages with angle buttresses stepped to the belfry where they become polygonal. There are C13th lancets to the north, south and west on the ground floor, above this it is Perpendicular, two-light cusped ringing chamber windows and two-light ogee cusped belfry windows. A crenellated parapet comes with corner turrets capped with ball finials on tapering stalks. It holds a ring of six bells, four C18th and two modern, hung to enable ringing in the English style.
In the church is a carved wooden plaque recording a peal rung in 1936. No special occassion is recorded but any peal is special for the ringers. It says:-
St.John the Baptist
Association
On Feb 27th 1936 in two hrs
and forty mins There was rung
in this tower a Peal of Bob
Minor 5040 Changes Being
seven 720s called different
S.Flint treble G.Cousins +4
E.Greenacre 2 F,Wigmore 5
W.W.Cousins 3 G.W.Ebberson
Conductor F.Wigmore +tenor
Rev.J.W.Sturgis Jones Vicar
J.Courtman Church
G.F.Bell Wardens
The plaque is beautifully carved with decorative edging, spirelets and scrolls and a 'half bell' complete with heaadstock. The only odd thing from a ringer's perspective is the + by the no.4 after G.Cousins name with the later explanation that this was the tenor. In ringing terms the 6th bell, the heaviest in the ring, is the tenor. All a bit odd for which I have no explanation.
The following is a table extracted from Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers showing the weights in kg, the sounding notes of the bells, the founder and the year of casting.
Bell Weight Note Dated Founder
1 218.63 D# 1947 Mears and Stainbank
2 268.98 C# 1784 Thomas Osborn
3 291,21 B 1784 Thomas Osborn
4 341.10 A# 1784 Thomas Osborn
5 393.72 G# 1947 Mears and Stainbank
6 547.03 F# 1784 Thomas Osborn
The bells were overhauled in 1947 by Mears & Stainbank .
In an audit of all the bells in Norfolk made in 1874 by John L'Estrange, the bells at Terrington St.John were listed as follows with their inscriptions;
1,2. T Wardale CW. T Osborn fecit 1784.
3. T Wardale Ch Warden T Osborn fecit 1784
4. T. Wardale Ch. Warden 1784 T Osborn fecit
5. Thos Wardale Churchwarden T Osborn Downham Norfolk
Fecit 1784.
6. Thos Wardale Churchwarden T Osborn fecit 1784.
John L'Estrange also wrote:- 'Three bells 6th Edward VI., 4, 5, and 6 cwts.' - This refers to the 6th year of the reign of Edward VI, ie 1553, the number of bells and their weights. The weights given are approximately 50% higher than those measured in 1956. This could be because the old weight included the headstock and clapper.
Also:- 'Until 1784 there were only four bells. The weight of the present peal, 1874, is 45 cwt.3 qrs.21 lbs., Tenor, 12 cwt.'
Bells 2, 3, 4, and 6 are the ones recorded by L'Estrange in 1874.
Thomas Osborn cast bells in St Neots, Cambridgeshire from 1773 to 1778 then moved to Downham Market, Norfolk in 1779, he finished casting bells in 1806.
Mears and Stainbank were the founders at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry between 1865 and 1968. George Mears was the founder until 1865 when he was joined by Robert Stainbank. They carried on casting as Mears and Stainbank until George retired. Robert then carried on until 1883 but the name continued under various other founders until 1968 with the Hughes family running the business. 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 closed in May 2017 but Whitechapel tower bells will continue to be cast by the Westley Group Ltd. of Cradley Heath.
Words variously from British Listed Buildings, Pevsner's Norfolk Buildings, THE Church Bells of Norfolk - WHERE, WHEN, AND BY WHOM THEY WERE MADE by JOHN L'ESTRANGE - 1874, amended and added to with own on-site observations.
Co-ordinates are for the tower.