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The Bells of St. Mary's Church
You might be surprised to learn that two of the bells at Saint Mary’s Church are nearly four hundred years old!
Saint Mary’s has six bells. They are not very big - the heaviest only weighs 6.5 cwt, in comparison with Yeovil’s tenor which weighs two tons. They hang in a wooden frame, which was probably made in 1906. Fortunately the frame and fittings were well made and they are in very good condition. The two oldest bells are dated 1621, and they were cast by George Purdue. He was based first in Taunton, but by 1621 it is thought that he had moved to Closworth, in Dorset. There are still fifty six of his bells in use!
Surprisingly little is known about the foundry at Closworth. No-one knows for sure whereabouts it was. The Purdue family business started there in 1570, and continued for 140 years, yet there is no trace of it now. However, there are bells all over the country bearing the name Purdue.
How did they achieve this? It was long before the Industrial Revolution, with no railways or canals, or even decent roads. There were no telephones, all communication had to be by letter, but few people could read or write. To solve the transport problem, often, bells were cast near to the church that they were destined for. A pit would be dug, a furnace built, the mould prepared, and the molten metal poured into it. Quite often the metal would be supplied by the customer, in the form of old bells, which were melted down and recast, so all the bellfounder had to bring was his tools and equipment.
Great skill and knowledge was needed to make a bell of about the right note. Not only must the strike note be correct but the harmonics must be right too. Fine tuning was done with a hammer and chisel, chips being gouged out of the inside of the bell after it was cast.
Cast into these two very old bells,are the founders’s initials, the date, and on the Fifth bell, the words ANNO DOMINI.
The other four bells were cast in 1906, by John Taylor’s Foundry in Loughborough, Leicestershire. One of these new bells was recast from an old Purdue bell, which must have become damaged in some way. Taylor’s is the largest bellfoundry in the world. They now have high tech machines for tuning bells, but the actual casting process has changed little for centuries.
The mould is made in two parts. The core gives the inner profile of the bell. and the case provides the outer profile. Both halves are made from a mixture of red and black sand, water, chopped hay. and horse manure!! The inscription chosen by the customer is then pressed into this loam, and the two halves clamped together. When the mould is dry, it is placed in a sand filled pit in the foundry floor.
Bell metal is an alloy of 77% copper and 23% tin. It is heated to 1200 degrees Celsius, before being poured into the mould. It takes several days for the bell to cool enough to be removed from the mould. The mould breaks as the bell is removed, so each bell is unique.
The Taylor’s bells have a beautiful frieze of trailing grapes and vine leaves cast into them. The lightest of them, The Treble, has the initials: W.V.C S.R.J F.J C.W. Some of the letters are backwards, a common mistake in bellfounding, as the inscription must be pressed into the mould in mirror image. The Second has the initials J.P.B. V, and the Tenor has AVHV Lee LM. It is traditional for the vicar and churchwardens to have their names inscribed on bells, so perhaps these are their initials. Maybe they have descendants living in the village today?
When we are practicing at Seavington, we are always pleased to welcome visitors. If you would like to watch the ringing, please wait till a gap between bursts of ringing and knock on the door. We always ring with the door locked, as one of the ringers stands right behind the door, and doesn’t want to be knocked flying whilst ringing! We like to show people the bells, but this is best done by prior arrangement as the tower stairs are very worn and must be negotiated slowly and carefully. If you would like to see the bells contact the Tower Captain.
Written by Helen Beaufoy for the Seavington News June 2006