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ALDINGTON, St Martin |
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DETAILS OF THE BELLS |
Bell
Weight
(prior to 1928)Weight
(after 1928)Diameter
Cast
Founder
1
6-0-8
5-3-3
30"
1774
Pack & Chapman
2
6-1-3
5-3-23
31½"
1774
Pack & Chapman
3
7-1-2
7-0-27
33¾"
1928
Mears & Stainbank
4
9-0-11
8-1-8
36½"
1774
Pack & Chapman
5
10-3-18
10-1-25
39½"
1774
Pack & Chapman
6
13-2-21
13-3-11
42¾"
1928
Mears & Stainbank
INSCRIPTIONS |
| 1. | I MEAN TO MAKE IT UNDERSTOOD. THAT THO · IM LITTLE YET IM GOOD. (7 Whitechapel loops) | |||||||||||
| PACK & CHAPMAN OF LONDON FECIT 1774 + | ||||||||||||
| 2. | SUCH WONDROUS POWR TO MUSICKS GIVEN IT ELEVATES THE SOUL TO HEAVEN (5 loops) | |||||||||||
| PACK & CHAPMAN OF LONDON FECIT 1774 + | ||||||||||||
| 3. | JNO ROBUS & GEO· KILVERT (1 loop) PACK & CHAPMAN OF LONDON FECIT 1774 + (1 loop) | |||||||||||
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| 4. | (Whitechapel loops around bell) | |||||||||||
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WM HOBBS &
WM. MARSHALL |
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| 5. |
EDWD
STEED & ROBT
STEED CHURCH WARDENS 1774
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| 6. |
(2 loops)
YE
RINGERS ALL THAT PRIZE YOUR
HEALTH &
HAPPINESS
BE
SOBER
MERRY
WISE &
YOULL THE SAME (same line) POSSESS PACK & CHAPMAN OF LONDON FECIT 1774 + |
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The cross is made up of a square with concave sides with a crescent each side. |
HISTORY |
1552
Record of 3 bells in the tower.
1705
New ring of 5 bells cast by John Peele.
1759 Rev'd Bryan Faussett wrote:
This Church consists of The Great and South Chancells,
The Body and an Isle to the South. At the West End stands the Tower, which is very high, & commands a very extensive Prospect of The Sea, Coast of France etc (sic). In it hang 5 heavy Bells, all cast by John Peele. A.D. 1705. The Great Bell bears ye Name of the aforemention’d William Cade, who was then Rector.1774
Bells recast into a ring of 6 by Pack & Chapman. This was a complete Maiden peal (although the tenor was said to have been a poor bell).
1799 Edward Hasted wrote:
The church, which is dedicated to St. Martin, is large and handsome, and consists of tow isles and two chancels, having at the west end a handsome tower steeple, well and strongly built, the top of it being covered with lead, flat and without battlements, seemingly as if unfinished. This steeple was begun about the year 1507, and went on so slowly, most probably for want of money, that it was not finished in 1557, as appears by the legacies left towers the work of it, in several wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury. There are six bells in it, cast about twenty-four years ago. 1911
Battlements added to the tower.
1928
3rd and tenor recast; all the bells rehung in a new frame. Although hung in a 6-bell frame, it is clear that the foundation has been designed with a view to future augmentation (and there is plenty of space). However, the position of the two additional pits would be for nos 3 and 4 in eight and the new bells would have to occupy the pits occupied by the existing 1 and 2 which would be displaced by the move.
1991
Tower found to be extremely unsafe and the church was shut for over a year while emergency repairs were carried out and a ring beam fitted.