Bell Tower - St Michael - Bodenham, Herefordshire - Bell Towers on Waymarking.com

Bell tower of St Michael's church, Bodenham, with a ring of 6 bells.

Bodenham, Herefs S Michael & All Angels
Bells
Bell	Weight	Nominal	Note	Diameter	Dated	Founder	Canons	Turning
1	5-0-1	1287.5	E	28.25"	1951	Gillett & Johnston	F	N
2	5-1-4	1161.5	D	29.13"	1951	Gillett & Johnston	F	N
3	6-1-1	1026.0	C	31.50"	1951	Gillett & Johnston	F	N
4	7-0-13	965.0	B	32.88"	1951	Gillett & Johnston	F	N
5	9-2-4	863.5	A	36.50"	1951	Gillett & Johnston	F	N
6	12-1-20	771.0	G	40.63"	1951	Gillett & Johnston	F	N

Frames
Frame	Bells	Year	Material	Maker	Truss	Layout
1	1,2,3,4,5,6	1951	Cast iron	Gillett & Johnston

SOURCE - (Visit Link)

"The west tower was begun in the 13th C, and was finished in the 14th C with a pyramidal roof set over the stump of a recessed spire. The tower access is inside the church in the north west corner of the tower. Where the steps open out into the ringing chamber, there is an awkward wooden stairway down onto the floor, and the door gets in the way. The floor is a little uneven, and the clock pendulum is not enclosed. The bells, however, are superb in both tone and in 'go', and were all recast by Gillett and Johnson in 1951. Parking is available in a car park before you turn up the church lane which is too small for parking.

1. Gillett and Johnson, Croydon, 1951, 5-0-1
2. Gillett and Johnson, Croydon, 1951, 5-1-4
3. Gillett and Johnson, Croydon, 1951, 6-1-1
4. Gillett and Johnson, Croydon, 1951, 7-0-13
5. Gillett and Johnson, Croydon, 1951, 9-2-4
6. Gillett and Johnson, Croydon, 1951, 12-1-20 in G"

SOURCE - (Visit Link)

"Parish Church of St. Michael stands in the village. The walls are of local sandstone rubble with dressings of the same material; there is also some tufa; the roofs are covered with tiles. The extensive use of tufa perhaps indicates the existence of a 12th-century building on the site, but there are no surviving remains of it. The angles of an aisleless nave of not earlier than c. 1200, remain in the four corners of the existing Nave, Early in the 14th century the North and South Aisles were added to the nave, N. and S. arcades built, the chancel probably re-built, and the West Tower added. The aisles at this date had gabled roofs. Probably late in the 14th or early in the 15th century the E. bay of both aisles was raised and altered to form a transept, W. walls and arches being inserted and the E. bay of the main arcades heightened. The same heightening was applied to the rest of the main arcades at some uncertain period, but probably immediately after, the old arches being re-set; this alteration necessitated the substitution of pent roofs for the former gabled roofs of the aisles, with the addition of a very low clearstorey above them. About 1750 the chancel was re-built and shortened by a bay. The church was restored in 1835 and again in 1890–91 when the Chancel was re-built and the 14th-century Porch removed from the S. side and re-built on the N. The late 17th-century drawing of the church by T. Dingley shows the length of the original chancel and the porch in its old position.

The West Tower (13 ft. square) is of early 14th-century date, ashlar-faced and of three stages with a plain parapet and square pinnacles at the angles. The two-centred tower-arch is of three continuous chamfered orders; above it are the marks of the lower and earlier roof of the nave; above the rake of this roof-line are straight joints showing that the nave was heightened subsequent to the building of the tower. The W. doorway is modern or completely restored; the W. window is of two trefoiled lights with a quatre-foiled spandrel in a two-centred head with a moulded label. The turret-staircase has a blocked doorway leading to a former gallery. The second stage has a window of one trefoiled light in the N., S. and W. walls. In the E. wall is a doorway leading into the earlier roof of the nave. The upper storey of this stage has a plain loop in the E., N. and S. walls. The bell-chamber has, in each wall, a window of two pointed lights with a plain spandrel in a two-centred head. The octagonal stone spire is said never to have been completed; the existing part extends some distance above the spire-lights and has a pyramidal roof; the spire-lights, in the cardinal faces, are each of two trefoiled ogee lights with a quatrefoil in a two-centred head under a gable with the stumps of side-pinnacles."

SOURCE - (Visit Link)

 

Address of Tower: St Michael Bodenham , Herefordshire England HR1 3JU Still Operational: yes Number of bells in tower?: 6 Relevant website?: [Web Link] Rate tower: Not listed Tours or visits allowed in tower?: Not listed

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