Love's Guide to the Church Bells of Kent

Borden, Ss Peter & Paul

8 bells hung for full circle ringing
Tenor: 22 cwt approx. in E♭.
Grid Ref: TQ882629
Complete ring cast at the same time
Rung from: Upstairs Ringing Room
Frame: 1803 Thomas Sweetlove, made of timber
Denomination: Church of England
Diocese (Anglican): Canterbury
Archdeaconry (Anglican): Maidstone
Kent County Association of Change Ringers District: Rochester
Building Listed Grade: I Click for Heritage details.
Peals rung at the tower

Details of the Bells

	Bell	Weight (most recent)	Diameter	Note	Date	Founder	Canons	Retuned
®	Treble	6 cwt approx.	31"	E♭	1802	Thomas Mears I, Whitechapel	Conventional	Never
®	2	6½ cwt approx	32"	D	1802	Thomas Mears I, Whitechapel	Conventional	Never
®	3	7½ cwt approx	33½"	C	1802	Thomas Mears I, Whitechapel	Conventional	Never
®	4	8¾ cwt approx	36½"	B♭	1802	Thomas Mears I, Whitechapel	Conventional	Never
®	5	10½ cwt approx	39½"	A♭	1802	Thomas Mears I, Whitechapel	Conventional	Never
®	6	12 cwt approx.	41"	G	1802	Thomas Mears I, Whitechapel	Conventional	Never
®	7	15 cwt approx.	45"	F	1802	Thomas Mears I, Whitechapel	Conventional	Never
®	Tenor	22 cwt approx.	50"	E♭	1802	Thomas Mears I, Whitechapel	Conventional	Never

® - Hung for full circle ringing

Bellframes

Frame

Bells

Year

Maker

Material

Truss(es)

Local
Layout

All bells

1802

Local

Oak

Inscriptions

Prior to 1802

Bell	Date	Founder	Fate
Treble		Unknown	Recast 1802
2nd		Unknown	Recast 1802
3rd		Unknown	Recast 1802
4th		Unknown	Recast 1802
5th		Unknown	Recast 1802
Tenor		Unknown	Recast 1802

History

	1798	Record of 6 bells in the tower. [1]
	1802	A new ring of 8 cast by Thomas Mears from the metal of the old 6. [2]
c	1886	The bells were rehung with new gudgeons, wheels and bearings, and 6 were quarter turned by Samuel Snelling of Sittingbourne. His bearings are still there and are possibly the last suriving examples of his work on change ringing bells. The old clock (date 1615) was replaced by Smith & Sons of Clerkenwell.

[1]

The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, is a handsome building, consisting of three isles and three chancels, with a square tower at the west end of it, in which there is a clock, and six bells. It is built mostly of flint, but as a mark of its antiquity, it has a Roman brick or two interspersed among them, and the mortar is composed of cockle-shells. What is very remarkable, in the steeple there are the remains of a chimney, which seems coeval with it. The door-case on the western side of the steeple is of Saxon architecture, with zigzag ornaments, as is that on the opposite or inner side, but of a much larger size. (The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 6, Edward Hasted, 1798)

[2]

The nineteenth century saw great changes in the appearance of the interior of the church and in the way in which services were conducted. Some of these innovations did not meet with the approval of the congregation, but the decision to recast the bells in 1802 would have been supported by all, expensive as it was. Borden had a strong ringing tradition. The Vestry met at the Maypole, in February, and agreed that the six bells should be recast as a peal of eight, hung in a new frame. The finance was to be raised in a numbers of ways. Mr Robert Matson, who then resided at Borden Hall, offered to give a sum equal “to what an assessment on the tithes would produce, supposing they were assessable”. No time was lost, for two weeks later the Vestry again adjourned from the church to reconvene in the convivial atmosphere of the Maypole to discuss with the London bell-founder, Mr Mears, the details of the casting and with Mr Sweetlove, the new frame. Mears, of the Whitechapel Bellfoundry where, fifty years later, the bells of Big Ben were cast, was to make “a good and musical peal of 8 at 4d. a pound and to find 8 new clappers at 10d. a pound.” He would allow 13d. a pound for the old metal if it should exceed the new, but be paid 17d. per pound if the new were to exceed the weight of the old. The founder himself would pay the costs of transporting to London by boat up the Swale and Thames. He would even allow money on the old clappers. A hundred pounds, which was half the agreed likely cost, would be paid when the bells were hung and then another instalment six months after and the final £30 one year after completion, with the bells insured by Mr Mears for that year. Doubtless feeling that they had struck a hard bargain, the Churchwardens and Overseers could then agree terms with Mr Sweetlove for making, supplying and erecting a frame of well-seasoned English oak. Sweetlove helped to take the bells down and he hung one bell for the temporary use of the parish. His charges amounted to £120 to be paid in instalments. It can be seen that all this amounded to a major outlay of parish funds and one which could not have been embarked upon without the fullest possible support. In August, 1802, William Wise, then one of the churchwardens, paid John Greensted 14/- for carrying the bells to Milton Quay in his cart. The following March, Greensted went to fetch the new ones. The Leeds ringers came and played the opening rounds or changes a week later. It was then decided there should be three official ringing days in the year, namely, the birthdays of the King, the Queen and the Prince of Wales. If there were to be a coronation, then that too would be celebrated by the bells. On each occasion, it was resolved, a total of eight shillings would be paid to the ringers. (A local history (tba))

The Belfry

The tenor. Photo: Christopher J Cooper	The belfry. Photo: Christopher J Cooper	One of the stamped Snelling bearings (they are all set in Plummer blocks and the brasses are all stamped thus). Photo: Christopher J Cooper, 2017
Treble (quarter turned with new headstock, straps, gudgeons and bearings supplied & fitted by Snelling). Photo: Christopher J Cooper, 2017	Second (quarter turned with new headstock, straps, gudgeons and bearings supplied & fitted by Snelling) Photo: Christopher J Cooper, 2017	Third (quarter turned with new headstock, straps, gudgeons and bearings supplied & fitted by Snelling). Photo: Christopher J Cooper, 2017
Fourth (quarter turned with new headstock, straps, gudgeons and bearings supplied & fitted by Snelling). Photo: Christopher J Cooper, 2017	Fifth (quarter turned with new headstock, straps, gudgeons and bearings supplied & fitted by Snelling). Photo: Christopher J Cooper, 2017	Sixth (quarter turned with new headstock, straps, gudgeons and bearings supplied & fitted by Snelling). Photo: Christopher J Cooper, 2017
Seventh (original 1802 headstock and hand-made straps & nuts. New gudgeons & bearings, but bell never quarter turned). Photo: Christopher J Cooper, 2017	Tenor (original 1802 headstock and hand-made straps & nuts. New gudgeons & bearings, but bell never quarter turned). Photo: Christopher J Cooper, 2017

Peal Boards

Timber Performance Board dated 2016
22 Sept 1945: 5040 Double Norwich Court Bob Major
16 Jan 2016: 5008 Double Norwich Court Bob Major (70th anniversary of Fr Stanley Evans' first peal and farewell to the Vicar.)