Bell Tower - Church of St Ippolyts, St Ippolyts, Hertfordshire. - Bell Towers on Waymarking.com

This parish church is Grade I listed. The traditional date of its foundation is 1087 in the fabric of the nave and chancel; north and south aisles were added and chancel remodelled in early C14th; in the C14th the west tower built; C15th north and south porches added and chancel arch widened; base of cross-like spire is dated '1636'; considerable repairs in 1839; new east window inserted in the chancel 1874-5. The restoration of the nave in 1877-8 was by Joseph Clarke, Diocesan Architect (builder Mr. Gregory of Clapham Junction) and involved carefully rebuilding three walls up from the foundations re-incorporating older features with new roof over nave and aisles, and building an organ chamber and north vestry. The old tower was releaded in 1880; organ rebuilt in 1891; choir vestry at the north of the earlier vestry added in 1913-14; new altar rails 1939; spire releaded in 1940. Built of flint rubble faced in coursed pebbles with stone dressings, tufa C11th dressings at the junction of the nave and narrower chancel on the south side and to a blocked south window and at the south-east angle of the nave, clunch or limestone for later work. Timber framed south porch with C17th red brick later infill to the sides. Steep old red tile roofs. Lead to north aisle.

The tall square west tower has angle buttresses at the west angles, a string course below a crenelated parapet, low pyramidal red tile roof topped by a lead covered preaching cross in place of a spire. This has a classical panelled pedestal supporting a tapering octagonal cross shaft with moulded cap and base topped by a cross and vane. Date on east face of pedestal '1636'. The stair turret is buried in the south-west corner of the tower. There are two-light pointed bell openings on each face, the 2nd level is lit by small slit windows, and the ground floor is lit by a three-light C14th west window with tracery in the head and mullions renewed. To the church is a plain chamfered arch.

There is a ring of six bells in the tower, hung for ringing in the English style, and rung from the ground floor of the church tower. At the centre of the ringing circle is the baptismal font, an arrangement I have not seen before, this area is screened off from, but not invisible from, the rest of the church.

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     203.66          E              1893       John Taylor & Co
            2     241.31          D              1893       John Taylor & Co
            3     288.03          C              1893       John Taylor & Co
            4     344.73          B              1893       John Taylor & Co
            5     440.89          A              1721       John Waylett
            6     650.45          G              1893       John Taylor & Co

Words variously from British Listed Buildings, Pevsner's Hertfordshire Buildings, amended and added to with own on-site observations.

Co-ordinates are for the tower.

Address of Tower: Church of St Ippolyts Ashbrook Lane St Ippolyts, Hertfordshire United Kingdom SG4 7PE Still Operational: yes Number of bells in tower?: 6 Rate tower: Tours or visits allowed in tower?: Yes Relevant website?: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please post an original picture of the tower taken while you were there. Please also record how you came to be at this tower and any other interesting information you learned about it while there.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.