Bell Tower - Church of The Blessed Virgin Mary, The Street, Woolpit, Suffolk. IP30 9QP - Bell Towers on Waymarking.com

This is a large medieval parish church which is Grade I listed. It consists of a west tower, nave, chancel, north and south aisles, and south porch. It is mainly flint rubble with freestone dressings. The roofs are leaded with parapets and parapet gables (the nave roof has lost its parapets).

In 1702 the medieval tower fell and was repaired in 1708. In 1852 it fell again and was entirely rebuilt by R.M.Phipson in the Decorated Style, with a tall freestone spire supported by flying buttresses from the parapets.

The roof in the nave is one of the best in Suffolk, built c.1439-1451 it has a fine double-hammerbeam roof in 10 bays. Although it has been restored, the angels attached to the cornice, wall posts and hammerbeams were restored in C19th, most of the remaining work is medieval.

There are six bells in the tower hung for ringing in the English style, two of them, the fourth and fifth, are C17th cast by John Darbie in Ipswich in 1658. He was casting bells there between 1651 and 1691. Charles & George Mears cast the light three, in 1844, and the tenor, in 1855, at their works in Whitechapel, London, the foundry succession there extending back to Robert Chamberlain in 1420. Charles & George cast bells between 1844 and 1855. A service bell was added in 2005 cast by John Taylor Bellfounders Ltd of Loughborough.

Following is a table extracted from Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers showing the weights in kg, and sounding note of the bells.

               Bell 	Weight  	Note 	   Dated 	      Founder
                1 	3-2-27 	 	F 	   1844 	Charles & George Mears
                2 	4-2-0 	 	Eb 	   1844 	Charles & George Mears
                3 	4-2-3 	 	Db 	   1844 	Charles & George Mears
                4 	5-2-4 	 	C 	   1658 	John Darbie
                5 	6-2-0 	 	Bb 	   1658 	John Darbie
                6 	8¼cwt 		Ab 	   1855 	Charles & George Mears
             Service 	3-2-16 	 	Ab 	   2005 	John Taylor Bellfounders Ltd

The coordinates are for the tower.

Address of Tower: Church of The Blessed Virgin Mary The Street Woolpit, Suffolk UK IP30 9QP Still Operational: yes Number of bells in tower?: 7 Rate tower: Tours or visits allowed in tower?: Yes Relevant website?: Not listed

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Date Logged Log   02/19/2014 SMacB visited it