The treble (below) and second (above) hung dead. Photo: Dickon Love, 7 Jan 2006 |
Rev'd David Cawley standing in the pit of the old treble, pointing to the brass bearings that are still let into the frame. The 2nd is in the foreground on the left with the tenor on the right. Photo: Dickon Love, 7 Jan 2006 |
A view of the belfry. The tenor is in the foreground (left) with the 5th on the right. The 4th is in the middle with the 3rd at the back on the left.
The bells have hardwood deadstocks and supporting ironwork or bell bolts. Independent crown staples support carillon type clappers on the four largest bells and trigger-action clappers on the two trebles. Prior to being taken down, the four old bells had been hung for ringing. It is not known when they were last rung in full circles. The old brass bearings remain in situ, and some slider runnerboards. They are sounded from an Ellacombe manual at ground floor level.
The bell frame made for the three bells in the new tower in 1656 is the work of an able carpenter and is of a type necessary only when the bells were to be swung up. It is of heavy section throughout and the heads are supported by massive simple braces – the precursor of the modern lowside frame. The return heads are mortised into the outer frame-sides; the heads of the inner frame sides in turn are mortised into the return heads, or frame ends. The frame is still of some height, and corner-posts were inserted to give additional stability. When the fourth bell was added and the others recast in 1686, a long queen-post frameside was installed, at right angles to the other three, so that there was room to take two more bells if required. Hodson had done precisely the same thing at Brookland in the previous year. In both cases the work was inferior, and in the case of Plumstead Church, the fifth bell was not installed. Subsequently the newer frame was strengthened by the insertion of additional struts and ties. The older part of the frame remains much as it was built, although its position very high in the tower is far from ideal for full-circle ringing, though ideal for chiming as at present. Originally, the tenor hung in the centre pit of the old three-bell frame, with the third to the south and the treble to the north, the second hanging in Hodson’s extension frame. The tenor presently occupies its old pit, along with the fifth; the fourth hangs to the south; the new treble and second hang in the old treble (of four pit) apparently having displaced its original tenant which now occupies the south end of the 1686 extension. Photo: Dickon Love, 7 Jan 2006 |