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Murston
 

Murston, All Saints (New Church)

Photo: Richard Offen, 2006

  • Single bell
  • Tenor: 3½ cwt approx.
  • Formerly 5 bells hung dead with electric solenoid hammers on looping clock chime. Currently with the Keltek Trust on offer to Child Okeford, Dorset.
  • Grid Ref: TQ928639
  • Formerly a Cambridge Clock Chime (on continuous loop), hung dead with cams driven by electric motors on looping clock chime. Originally from the News of the World offices, Bouverie Street. Currently with the Keltek Trust on offer.
  • Rung from: Not applicable
  • Denomination: Church of England
    Diocese (Anglican): Canterbury
    Archdeaconry (Anglican): Maidstone

Details of the Bells
Bell Weight
(most recent)		Diameter Note Date Founder Canons Retuned
Single bell 3½ cwt approx.25¼" Mid 16th Cent. William Oldfield

Inscriptions

Prior to removal from the church in 2013
Bell Weight
(most recent)*
(as supplied)		DiameterNoteDateFounderRetunedFate
Q13-2-183-2-1225"F♯1934Mears & StainbankNeverCracked in the crown. On offer to Child Okeford, Dorset
Q24-1-244-1-1526¾"E1934Mears & StainbankNeverOn offer to Child Okeford, Dorset
Q34-3-244-3-1929"D1934Mears & StainbankNeverOn offer to Child Okeford, Dorset
Q48-0-108-0-834⅞"A1934Mears & StainbankNeverOn offer to Child Okeford, Dorset
Hour10-3-810-3-038⅞"G1934Mears & StainbankNeverOn offer to Child Okeford, Dorset

* Source of weight figures: As received by Taylors in 2013

Prior to the 1960s
Bell Weight
(most recent)		DiameterDateFounderRetunedFate
Treble3½ cwt approx.25¼"Mid 16th Cent.William OldfieldNeverStill in the tower
2UnknownNeverNo details. Sold by Faculty from the Old Church in 1767
Tenor6 cwt approx.33"1673James BartlettNeverSold by Faculty 1922

History
c 1250 13th Cent Old church built.
c 1540 A bell cast for the old church by William Oldfield (according to Stahlschmidt).
1767 One of the three bells was sold by Faculty, being cracked. The wording suggests that they were originally for selling two, "one being sufficient". The Faculty granted allowed the sale of one cracked bell only.
1873 Old church pulled down except the chancel. A new church built on new site in an "early gothic style" and incorporated fragments of the original 12th-century church. The architect was William Burges. It was completed in 1874, although the full tower was built to its full height owing to lack of funds. The tower was capped with a ridge roof that was removed between the wars.
c 1880 Late 19th Cent 2 small 'brassfoundry' bells were cast for unidentified building.
1887 Stahlschmidt records that the larger bell originally came from Leysdown.
1922 Faculty granted for the sale of one bell, "not rung since 1880 and now in pieces on the belfry floor". This must have been the bell which Stahschmidt says "came from the church of Leysdown", but is clearly one of the survivors of the 1767 Faculty - apparently moved to the new church but never hung.
1934 5 bells cast by Whitechapel per the Synchronome Clock Co., for the clock at The News of the World offices in Bouverie Street.
1962 By this year, Murston tower contained the Oldfield bell, hung on its old headstock in a simple pine frame, and two smaller disused bells.
1964 Bells given to Murston, complete with looped Cambridge Quarter mechanism; hung on the tower roof in 1965.
1966 Record of the clapper of the larger disused bell in the bell chamber.
1994 By this year, all bells apart from the chime and the service bell were no longer in the church.
2006 At the request of the DAC, the KCACR inspected the strange installation for safety. The bells were, as the letter to the KCACR stated, "supported by no recognisable engineering method".
2013 The bells were removed from the tower with a view to being hung in the tower of St Nicholas, Strood, to form part of a new ring of 8 bells. The press release said the work would be finished by Easter 2014. It never happened. [1]
2017 It was announced that the former 5 bells were to be offered by the Kelteck Trust to the church of St Nicholas, Child Oakeford, Dorset to replace the heavy six there.
[1] After 114 years St Nicholas Strood are to have a ring of eight bells to replace the set of ten tubes that replaced the three old bells left from the ring of six which were destroyed in a disastrous fire in 1898. The five bells that are at present at Murston will form part of the ring with three new bells. It is hoped that they will be installed and ringing by Easter 2014. (KCACR Website report by Douglas Snoswell, 23 May 2013)

Gallery

A picture of the church taken before the wooden roof was removed from the tower. The presence of the war memorial indicates that this must have happened post 1920.
Photo: David L Cawley collection

Elsewhere in the Parish
Murston, All Saints (Old Church)
Formerly 2 bells

Love's Guide to the Church Bells of Kent Page updated: 25 June 2017