The bells of the Parish Church of St. Mary, Aylesbury

Bellringing at St. Mary's Aylesbury has a somewhat disjointed history. Many towns in England can boast of a long heritage of ringing at their parish churches since the advent of changeringing in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Yet for the two hundred and twenty years that Aylesbury has had a ring of eight bells, they have only been rung full-circle in the traditional English style for less than half of that time.

Until 1773 the tower housed six bells. This ring had no doubt evolved, like those in most other parish churches, during the previous two hundred or so years by the gradual addition and recasting of bells as the parish sought to maintain and improve the fittings and furnishings of the church. The tenor (largest) bell was inscribed "Non sono animabus mortuorum sed viventium" (I ring not for the souls of the dead but for the living). It was hung, along with the five other bells, in a large oak framework. A section of the Frame, bearing the inscription "WILLIAM CHAPMAN BELL HANGER 1633" is today preserved in the ringing chamber.

By 1773 the condition of the bells and their fittings was giving serious cause for concern, and on 30th March of that year, at a Vestry held in the church, "It was unananimously agreed that as the first, fifth and sixth Bells belonging to our Church are crackt & the others are very much out of repair the Churchwardens are hereby empowered to contract for the exchangeing the present six peal bells for eight New peal Bells the tenor to weigh twenty two hundred or thereabouts but not more than that weight & the other seven to be weight in proportion. Next it was agreed that Mefsrs. Thomas Pack & William Chapman of White Chapel London Bell founders shall be employed in the above work & the Churchwardens are requested to contract them on the best Terms they can make". The new ring cost L239.9s.9d., besides the value of the old bells, and was opened on 12th July 1773 by the College Youths (a London society and a leader of the bellringing exercise). The bells were hung in the existing six-bell frame which was adapted to accommodate eight bells.

Ringing continued for some 70 years, and a board survives, now hanging in the ringing chamber, recording a peal of Grandsire triples in 1804. The lettering is badly faded, but those with good eyesight will discern the following:

However, by 1850 the tower had become unsafe, and indeed, the whole church was in an exceedingly delapidated condition. Between 1850 and 1863 Sir George Gilbert Scott undertook a complete restoration of the building, including large scale reconstruction of the arches supprting the tower. The tenor and fifth bells were recast in 1850 and 1854 respectively bu Charles and George Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, but regular ringing soon became impracticable because Scott also removed the ringing room floor so that the arcaded walls could be seen from the floor below. Conditions remained as such for over a hundred years and the bells were clocked* only, from a chiming frame attached to the gallery arcading.

* Clocking is a means of causing a bell to sound whereby a rope is attached to the clapper and the clapper pulled to the side of the stationary bell.

Frederick Sharpe, a well-known bell historian and then Deputy Master of the Oxford Diocesan Guild Of Church Bell Ringers, reported on the installation in 1967 but the church authorities were reluctant to become involved at that stage. However in 1972 the Reverend Peter Graham came to the living. As a one-time ringer he was eager for the bells to be restored as part of the overall church restoration programme. Initial tests indicated that the very solid-looking old oak frame might be retained on new foundation beams and by 1978 plans for rehanging the bells were well advanced. Work went ahead with the new ringing room floor. However, income tax changes at that time then reduced the income from many covenanted gifts and to Peter Graham's great disappointment restoration of the bells had to be postponed

By 1982 Peter Graham felt that it was time he sought pastures new, but he was determined to see work on the bells put in hand. Fresh estimates were sought, and Messrs. Eayre and Smith of Derbyshire were awarded the contract. This was an act of faith as less than half of the L70,000 needed to repair the tower as well as the bells had been raised. In September 1982, the new vicar, the Reverend John Morrison, arrived with the daunting task of finding some L40,000 to get the bells ringing in addition to needing L125,000 to repair other parts of the church. He had no previous experience of bells (or bellringers!) but like his predecessor, he was anxious to see the long-matured scheme come to fruition. The Oxford Diocesan Guild, for many years featuring this long-unringable tower on their membership certificates, responded generously from their bell restoration fund and applications were made to other local and National grant-giving Trusts.

Following the removal of the bells the foundation beam ends of the framework were exposed and found to be extensively decayed. Their strengthening or renewal, with the installation of a reinforced concrete ring beam, would have been very difficult in the limited space available. Some pockets of rot were also discovered in the bellframe and this forced a re-appraisal of the scheme. Messrs. Eayre & Smith estimated that a new iron and steel frame would only cost about L2,500 more than repairing and retaining the old frame. Two members of the Towers and Belfries Committee of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers agreed that renewal was a sensible course of action. A further problem encountered was that the sixth bell was discovered to have a small crack in its crown. Advice was taken and this was effectively repaired by Messrs. Soundweld of Cambridge, specialists in this type of work.

At a festal evensong on 1st May 1983 the bells, set out in the north transept, were rededicated before being hauled back up the tower. Formal re-opening of the bells took place on Sunday 25th September. As in 1773 a band of ringers were invited, representing the Ancient Society of College Youths. They accomplished the first peal on the rehung bells. Some members of this band were also members of the Oxford Diocesan Guild:-

THE ANCIENT SOCIETY OF COLLEGE YOUTHS

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the restored bells is that they sound today almost exactly as they would have done when they were first hung in 1773. Often today the restoration of a ring of bells includes the tuning of the bells, a practice which enhances the musical quality of the ring by carefully bringing the strike note as near perfect as possible, whilst also correcting the partial notes of each individual bell. With the Aylesbury bells this was not done. Many of today's ringers acknowledge that St. Mary's bells are not among the finest toned in the country, but they have been sympathetically described as a ring of character, and it is of historical interest that at present they remain as they were cast.

When the bells were re-opened in 1983 work began to train a band of ringers. There were bellringers living in Aylesbury at that time, but since the bells had not been ringable during their lifetimes, they had naturally attached theselves to neighbouring churches in the area where they could practice their art. Many people came forward to learn to ring at Aylesbury, but the number who persevered in the long term was relatively few. Nevertheless, work has continued tirelesely to build a stable band, and gradually this has borne fruit. Bellringing is a fascinating art, combining music, mathematics, coordination and gentle exercise with the unique fellowship that exists among ringers worldwide. Anyone who is at all interested in learning this skill will always be most welcome and should contact the Ringing Master of St. Mary's or the incumbent. Let us hope that there will always be bells and bellringers at Aylesbury to continue this joyous way of proclaiming Christ's message.

John S. White
Aylesbury. July 1990.

With grateful thanks to Mr. Alan J. Frost, Mr. Michael E. Dodd and the bellringers of St. Mary's Parish Church Aylesbury, for their kind help in producing this publication.

Other sources:- "The Church Bells of Buckinghamshire", A. H. Cocks, MA,FZS,FRGS. (1897).