Bell Tower - St Margaret - Ilketshall St Margaret, Suffolk - Bell Towers on Waymarking.com

Round bell tower of St Margaret's church, Ilketshall St Margaret, with a ring of 3 bells.

Ilketshall St Margaret, Suffolk S Margaret
Bells
Bell	Weight	Nominal	Note	Diameter	Dated	Founder	Canons	Turning
1	8cwt	920.0	A#	36.18"	c1410†	John Bird	Y	4
2	10cwt	830.0	G#	39.00"	c1410†	John Bird	Y	4
3	13cwt	725.5	F#	42.00"	c1499†	Brasyers of Norwich (generic)	Y	4

Frames
Frame	Bells	Year	Material	Maker	Truss	Layout
1	1,2,3	c1599	Oak	unidentified	~5.O	3.3

SOURCE - (Visit Link)

"Ilketshall St. Margaret is one of 180 round tower churches in England, only six of which are outside East Anglia.  It consists of a round west tower, nave, chancel and south porch. The roof is of slates, and the pitch of an earlier thatched roof can be seen against the tower.

The tower itself is a complete circle within, showing that it was built at the same time as the church - many of the round towers were built onto existing churches.  Locally found flints are the main building material, with later brick buttresses at the east end.  Some historians date it no earlier that the twelfth century, but one local round tower expert is convinced that the tower, up to the base of the belfry, and most of the church, are Saxon - probably just before 1000AD.

The overall shape of the church, tall, long and narrow, with a short, 35'-40' bell tower, points to the middle Saxon period, 900-1000AD. The church walls are less than 3’ thick which also favours the Saxons over the Normans who built wider churches, over 20', with thicker walls and taller bell towers.  The flints are of all sizes, shapes and colours, set in large amounts of mortar, with little or no attempt at selecting and coursing, as seen in late Saxon/early Norman churches.

Before the internal restoration of the early nineteen-eighties there were four Saxon belfry windows (inside the tower) below the present belfry - all round headed and built of flints The west window is still there but is much reduced in size and framed in dressed stone on the outside.

The tower was rendered in 1993.  The decision was taken by English Heritage. whose representatives claimed that flint towers were originally finished in this manner.  Reaction to the finished product was not favourable. Complaints poured in from local people and specialist historians alike, most of whom had contributed greatly to what was considered by many an act of vandalism.  English Heritage offered to remove the work and restore the pointing at no cost to the parish, but the PCC decided that this could only be done at the expense of other churches’ funds for urgently needed repairs.  So the white tower remains, thankfully, as the years progress and the render discolours, becoming less of an eyesore."

SOURCE - (Visit Link)

Address of Tower: St Margaret Low Street Ilketshall St Margaret, Suffolk England NR35 1QZ Still Operational: no Number of bells in tower?: 3 Relevant website?: [Web Link] Rate tower: Not listed Tours or visits allowed in tower?: Not listed

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