High Halstow

HIGH HALSTOW, St Margaret

	6 bells
	Tenor 9-2-17 in A flat
	Grid Ref. TQ779753
	Rochester District
	Frame: 1983 local
	Retuning: Whitechapel 1983
	Ground Floor
	PEALS

DETAILS OF THE BELLS

Bell	Weight		Diameter	Cast	Founder
1	4-1-0			1794	Edward Arnold
2	4-2-0	(supplied 4-3-0)	28½"	1861	John Taylor & Co.
3	5-0-6		30½"	1675	John Hodson
4	5-3-9		31½"	1983	Whitechapel
5	6-2-26		34"	1825	Thomas Mears II
6	9-2-17		38"	1675	John Hodson

E. ARNOLD LEICESTER FECIT 1794

A : BURGIN & T. POCKLINGTON CHURCH WARDENS

J : TAYLOR & C^o FOUNDERS LOUGHBOROUGH 1861

IOHN à HODSON à MADE à ME à 1675

E T à RECTOR ¡ ¡

¡ ¡ THOMAS à DVNNING à IOHN à LOAN à CHVRCH à WARDENS ¡ ¡ ¡

T. MEARS OF LONDON FECIT 1825. (10 Whitechapel loops)

THIS RING RESTORED
1983
DAVID W. JACK
TOWER LEADER

RECAST

19

83

WHITECHAPEL

T MEARS OF LONDON FECIT 1825. (13 Whitechapel loops)

GEORGE SMITH
MICHAEL COMPORT

}

CHURCHWARDENS

IOHN _ HODSON _ MADE _ ME _ 1675

EDWARD _ TVRNER _ RECTOR ¡ ¡

CH ¡ THOMAS _ DVNNING _ IOHN _ LOAN _ CHVRCH _ WARDENS. ¡

The underlining on the 2nd is actually 2 dots.
The coins on the 3rd consist of crowns, half-crowns and sixpences of Charles II.

Bell Weight Diameter Note Cast Founder Fate

1 of 5

4-2-5

28"

E flat

1729

Richard Phelps

Recast 1861

3 of 5

32½"

B (!)

1825

Thomas Mears II

Recast 1983

1. R PHELPS FEC : 1729

JOHN BENSON D : D RECTOR

JAMES COCKERILL
JOHN WARD } CHURCH WARDENS

3. T. MEARS OF LONDON FECIT 1825. (11 Whitechapel loops)

1420		Earliest bellframe known to be installed, probably for 4 bells. The tower was probably of timber construction with a spire.
1675		Present 3rd and tenor cast.
1729		A bell was cast by Richard Phelps, 28 inches in diameter.
1788		The first peal was rung on the bells, being 42 "different 5 bell peals". The bells at this time were in the key of A flat minor.
1794		A bell was cast for St Luke's, Kinoulton, Notts.
1825		The tower was rebuilt in brick. Some portions of the old bellframe was used in the construction of the roof. A sub frame of the old frame supported a new "X" braced frame. The 4th and present 5th were recast by Thomas Mears.
1861		The 1729 Phelps bell was recast to form the present 2nd.
1983	January	The bells, fittings, frame and the trusswork beneath were all dismantled. The bells went to Whitechapel where the (then) treble, 2nd, 4th and tenor were tuned and the 3rd recast to place them in a major key. The canons were retained on the then 2nd and tenor. There was a row over the trusswork, and it was supposed to have gone to the (former) Medway heritage centre in St Mary the Virgin, Chatham.
	March	The frame having been assembled, Richard Offen and David Cawley hoisted and hung the bells - with an army of local assistance - in one day, starting at 9 a.m. and finishing at 6 p.m., when they were rung from the base of the tower with no floors between the ringers and the bells.
	May	Dedication of the bells.
1984	Spring	The bells were augmented to six with a bell reclaimed from the former ring of five at Kinoulton, Notts. This is the only Arnold of Leicester bell in Kent, and was tuned and fitted up by Whitechapel.
1993		Whitechapel having produced a new type of canon-retaining headstock, the prototype was tried out on High Halstow tenor and, proving successful, was exchanged for the traditional one.
1998		The headstock on the 3rd was replaced with a "new" pattern Whitechapel canon retaining headstock.


The 2nd bell hanging in its new pit.	Hoisting the 5th. Both pics March 1983.
	A touching picture of David Cawley and Richard Offen working in the belfry in 1983.