Yorkshire Surprise Royal at Bathwick, The Blessed Virgin Mary, Bath

Some you Yorkshire on this lovely ring of 10. 18-3-20 in Eb
Early History

1819 saw the massacre at Peterloo, the sale of Florida by the Spanish to the US and the birth of the future Queen Victoria. Three bells were cast in the east-end of London by Thomas Mears & Sons which were installed into St Mary's tower by the time of the churches dedication in the early 1820's. These are the current 5, 7 and tenor and they were hung high up in the tower in an oak frame designed to hold eight bells. It is not known if they were hung for ringing at this time, and it may have been that they were only used as a clock chime.




Ring of 6

In 1880 the bells were made into a ring of six with the addition of the present day 6, 8 and 9. The latter was cast in 1818 from the metal of three bells which had previously been hung in the old parish church. Prior to being hung in St Mary's, it served as a funeral bell in the Bathwick cemetery chapel.

The Bath & Wells Diocesan Association of Change Ringers was founded in 1890. Its first master was Rev CWH Griffith who was then rector at Bathwick. He rang in the first peal for the association at Twerton on 19/08/1890 and served as master until 1895 when he was moved to Zennor in Cornwall.1

Ring of 8

1897 saw the ring augmented to 8 with the addition of two trebles.

Bell Founder Date Cast Weight
1 John Warner & Sons 1897 6 cwt
2 John Warner & Sons 1897 7 cwt
3 Thomas Mears II 1819 7 cwt
4 John Warner & Sons 1880 8 1/2 cwt
5 Thomas Mears II 1819 10 cwt
6 John Warner & Sons 1880 12 1/4 cwt
7 John Rudhall 1818 15 cwt
8 Thomas Mears II 1819 21cwt

As was the custom at this time, the local ringers formed themselves into a guild or society - The St Marys Guild of Change Ringers - and there are two peal boards in the tower recording their peal ringing exploits. By the out break of WW1 things gone quiet and there is not much evidence of any ringing taking place until after the end of WW2.

948 Re-hang

By the late 1940's the bells were in need of professional attention. Unfortunately what they received was a typical post-war bodge job - some fittings were replaced and others refurbished. What was a success however, was the re-tuning of the bells, and Bathwick now had the best sounding ring of bells in Bath - if not the easiest going.
Following the re-tuning the bells weights were given as follows

Treble 5-3-18
2 6-2-2
3 6-2-15
4 8-0-2
5 9-1-7
6 11-2-16
7 14-1-7
Tenor 19-2-12 in D

The early eighties saw the start of a series of mechanical failures failures amongst the bells. Gudgeons went on several of the bells, and the overall go became gradually worse. More worryingly, many of the frame bolts had reached a point were it was impossible to tighten them any further without them shearing off. The ax was having to be used more and more to cut away bits of the ever moving frame to allow certain bells to swing. But despite all of this, the local band flourished and still managed to attempt a quarter every Sunday morning (even if they were on the front six and Plain Bob Triples being thrashed to death).
Serious thought was now given to re-hanging the bells and quotes were obtained from the major bell hangers. Included in the quotes was a price for a ten bell frame as well as the cost of two new trebles.
At Easter 1984 the church took the decision to start fund raising to get the bells re-hung. Whitechapel were chosen to do the work, and the ringers agreed to meet the cost of the two new trebles themselves.

Fund raising efforts were many and various - the tower was open during the Bath Festival, concerts were staged by visiting choirs, sponsored walks were sponsored - and by February 1986 enough had been raised to place a firm order with Whitechapel. A team of local volunteers agreed to help the bell-hanger, Phil Jakeman, in the lowering of the bells and the dismantling of the old frame. The bells left for London in August 1986.
By December 1986 they were ready to come back, and the chain gang assembled once again - but this time for some constructive work - putting in the new steel frame and hauling the bells back into position.
The bells were re-dedicated on 7th February 1987. Such a fine job had been done with the 1948 re-tuning that apart from being turned, no further work was needed on the back eight.

1 Whitechapel 5-3-6 1986
2 Whitechapel 5-3-3 1986
3 John Warner 5-3-3 1897
4 John Warner 6-1-15 1897
5 Thomas Mears 6-1-19 1819
6 John Warner 7-3-12 1880
7 Thomas Mears 9-0-4 1819
8 John Warner 11-1-2 1880
9 John Rudhall 13-3-7 1818
10 Thomas Mears 18-3-20 1819

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Music

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• 20110604111527

[bfpeachey]

This is dire. These stay-benders couldn't strike a box of matches. What numpty ash-basher thinks this passes for ringing? Ho hum..........I have just noticed that it is the same idiot who thinks those dustbins at Christchurch Priory pass for bells!

[bellboy222]

DUSTS

[bellboy222]

Really, if you are going to upload clips of ringing this poor, you should accept comments that point this out as par for the course. Deleting them will not change the quality of the ringing! I personally would not have uploaded this. Maybe as you get older, you'll get wiser! I wonder how long this one will last?

[pikemonster1]

"Copying and pasting" or did you really type all that yourself???