Bell tower of St John The Evangelist's church, Slimbridge.
Slimbridge, Glos
S John Ev |
|
Bells |
|
Bell |
Weight |
Nominal |
Note |
Diameter |
Dated |
Founder |
Canons |
Turning |
|
1 |
5-0-0 |
1228.0 |
D# |
29.50" |
1911 |
Llewellins & James |
F |
|
|
2 |
5-2-3 |
1099.0 |
C# |
31.00" |
1911 |
Llewellins & James |
F |
|
|
3 |
6-0-0 |
985.0 |
B |
32.50" |
1716 |
Abraham I Rudhall |
R |
|
|
4 |
6-1-14 |
932.5 |
A# |
34.00" |
1742 |
Abel Rudhall |
R |
|
|
5 |
9-1-0 |
816.5 |
G# |
38.00" |
1827 |
John Rudhall |
R |
|
|
6 |
12½cwt |
725.5 |
F# |
41.00" |
1911 |
Llewellins & James |
F |
|
|
Frames |
|
Frame |
Bells |
Year |
Material |
Maker |
Truss |
Layout |
|
1 |
1,2,3,4,5,6 |
1911 |
Cast iron |
Llewellins & James |
|
|
St John's church is Early 13th century, although the west tower, spire, and chancel are late 13th century.
"Three-stage tower, pinnacles at 45°, open C14 parapet, octagonal spire with lunettes on cardinal faces. West face of tower 3-light window flanked by niches linked by drip, over C19 door, at second stage triple niche and various carved shields, above string elongated quatrefoil in rectangular panel above square clock face, 2-light C14 baby light. Diagonal buttresses with 5 offsets plus plinth; stair clamp north-east corner."
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"Originally a ring of five cast with canons, the treble and tenor were recast and a further treble added in 1911 by Llewellins & James. The previous treble of the five was cast in 1631, probably by Roger Purdue, its diameter measuring 30 inches, and the previous tenor was cast by Abraham Rudhall I in 1699, its diameter measuring 42 inches. Llewellins & James removed the canons from the remaining three original bells and tuned them, and rehung all six with elm headstocks in a new cast iron frame on RSJs. An Ellacombe Chiming Apparatus was installed in the ground floor Ringing Room, and part of the old oak bellframe was used to build a cabinet that now stands behind the organ and is used to store its music.
All of this took place whilst the church spire was being strengthened. First added to the tower in the 14th Century, the top 15 feet of the spire had to be entirely rebuilt as the capstone had split, and a considerable amount of ivy was also removed from the tower walls. The bells and spire were both rededicated on 4th October 1912.
In 1953 a new Ringing Room gallery was erected with a new doorway built through from the spiral staircase, and the Ellacombe chiming manual was brought up from the ground floor. A pair of glazed gratings, such as would be found in city centre pavements above basement windows, were employed as a bell trapdoor in the gallery floor. However, although one stone rib of the vaulted ceiling above is clearly intended to be removeable, the plaster on either side of it would need to be destroyed to allow the trapdoor to be opened. The bells were rehung on ball bearings and their fittings renovated by John Taylor & Co. in 1962.
The chamber above the Ringing Room is home to a cast iron flatbed clock movement built by Thwaites and Reed of Clerkenwell, London in 1896. Housed in a cupboard some ten feet above the floor and accessible only via a ladder, it features a deadbeat escapement and an unusual count wheel on the striking train. The movement was converted to epicyclic autowinding by Smiths of Derby in the early months of 2007, having previously needed winding daily by hand. The weights originally dropped the full height of the Clock Chamber and fell in one corner, but are now suspended beneath the movement.
The clock strikes the hours on the tenor, the hammer release rope sharing the tenor's bellrope hole, and its dial is directly behind the movement on the west wall of the tower. Should the bells ever need to pass through this chamber the clock movement would most likely need to be removed as it is directly between the trapdoors in the ceiling and the floor."
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