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ALDINGTON, St Martin

Photo DrL 26th Dec 2004

6 bells
Tenor 13-3-11 in F sharp
Grid Ref. TR075362
Ashford District
Retuned: 1928 Mears & Stainbank
Frame: 1928 Mears & Stainbank
The frame foundation is for 8 bells.
Upstairs Ringing Room
PEALS
¯ SOUND CLIP
(Recorded by Dickon Love, Nov 2002. 40.39s.)

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 · I’M LITTLE YET I’M 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)

RECAST 1928.
CHAS. SLINGSBY, AGE 90., RINGER 80 YEARS
WALTER H. SHERWOOD. CAPT. OF RINGERS.
"MAY JESUS CHRIST BE PRAISED"

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4. (Whitechapel loops around bell)
  WM HOBBS & WM. MARSHALL PACK & CHAPMAN OF LONDON FECIT 1774 + (5 loops)
 
5. EDWD STEED & ROBT STEED CHURCH WARDENS 1774 PACK & CHAPMAN OF LONDON FECIT 1774 + (5 loops)
 
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 +
G. S. LONG, RECTOR.
JOHN WANSTALL,
GEORGE L. BOULDEN,

}

CHURCHWARDENS
"DRAW NIGH TO GOD."

 

RECAST BY MEARS & STAINBANK . 1928.

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.