Cambridge S Major at Charlton Kings, Cheltenham, Glos

Charlton Kings are an average middle-weight eight, mostly consisting of Rudhall and Mears bells (except the 6, which is a Pennington bell,) very near Cheltenham - if you type "Cheltenham" into Doves, Charlton Kings comes under it!! (It's the same scenario as Rodbourne Cheney coming under "Swindon.")

They go quite well, rehung in/with new frame and fittings in 1958 by the Whitechapel foundry, though the 7 is an absolute PIG to strike - VERY quick both hand and back, but particularly nasty to ring over the 6 at hand!! (6 and 8 have canon-retaining headstocks; the 7 doesn't!!) The ceiling here is quite low, the tenor's sally touches the rope hole when set at hand, but this does not affect handling -- no kicking sallies, etc, though there were a couple of people who I thought would take out the light fittings/rope hole/both due to floppy handstrokes!!

They sound OK, though they don't blend together particularly well as an 8 -- tonally, each bell is fine on its own, but they don't sound quite in tune with each other as a ring. I think they sound best behind the 4 and 5, as far away from the door as possible!! They were also quite quiet outside, though this is probably due to soundproofing.

The newest bell is the 4 -- 1923 Mears & Stainback, and probably a recasting - with the next newest being 1, 2, 5 and 7 (the latter two probably also recastings,) which are 1893 Mears & Stainback. The 3 is 1801 John Rudhall, the tenor is 1723 Abraham II Rudhall, and the 6 is 1630 John Pennington. It is also interesting to note that the 6th here (the oldest bell in the tower) was cast in the same year and by the same founder as the tenor at Great Witcombe!!

Anyway, some Cambridge Major rung on these taken from outside -- stodgy start, but the ringing improved as it went on. See what you think of these!! Impressive church at any rate, and sorry for my stray finger at times!!

Tenor 17-0-13 in Eflat.

http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=cheltenham&DoveID=CHARLT...

http://www.ringing.demon.co.uk/towers/glos.htm#C

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