| |
|
|
Goudhurst, St Mary the Virgin
|
|
Details of the Bells |
| Bell | Weight (most recent) | (As dispatched 1934) | (Prior to 1934) | Diameter | Note | Date | Founder | Canons | Retuned | ||
| ® | Treble | 5½ cwt approx. | 5-3-23 | 6-0-8 | 30½" | D | 1775 | Pack & Chapman, Whitechapel | Removed | 1934 Mears & Stainbank | |
| ® | 2 | 6 cwt approx. | 6-1-17 | 6-2-26 | 32" | C♯ | 1834 | Thomas Mears II | Removed | 1934 Mears & Stainbank | |
| ® | 3 | 7¾ cwt approx. | 7-0-14 | 33" | B | 1776 | Pack & Chapman, Whitechapel | Removed | Never | ||
| ® | 4 | 8 cwt approx. | 8-1-26 | 8-3-2 | 37" | A | 1805 | Thomas Mears & Son | Removed | 1934 Mears & Stainbank | |
| ® | 5 | 9¾ cwt approx. | 10-1-18 | 10-2-26 | 39½" | G | 1707 | Richard Phelps, Whitechapel | Removed | 1934 Mears & Stainbank | |
| ® | 6 | 11¾ cwt approx. | 12-1-20 | 12-2-4 | 42" | F♯ | 1707 | Richard Phelps, Whitechapel | Removed | 1934 Mears & Stainbank | |
| ® | 7 | 16¼ cwt approx. | 17-1-8 | 17-2-18 | 46¾" | E | 1707 | Richard Phelps, Whitechapel | Removed | 1934 Mears & Stainbank | |
| ® | Tenor | 23¾ cwt approx. | 25-0-5 | 25-2-23 | 52½" | D | 1834 | Thomas Mears II | Removed | 1934 Mears & Stainbank |
Inscriptions |
|
From the 1707 ring of six |
| Bell | Date | Founder | Retuned | Fate | |
| Treble | 1707 | Richard Phelps | Never | Recast in 1776 | |
| 2nd | 1707 | Richard Phelps | Never | Recast in 1805 | |
| Tenor | 1707 | Richard Phelps | Never | Recast in 1834 |
Prior to 1834 |
| Bell | Date | Founder | Retuned | Fate | |
| 2nd | 1775 | Pack & Chapman | Never | Recast in 1834 |
History |
| 1637 | On Wed 23 Aug the "very tall" spire that was on top of the church was struck by lightning that caused a fire that melted the 5 bells that were reported to be in the tower. [1] | ||
| 1638 | The tower was rebuilt after the fire but only up to a certain height in stone as funds ran out. The tower was topped with a wooden top set upon the stonework in which a single "great bell" was hung. This single bell was still there in 1659. | ||
| 1690 | 3rd (of 6) cast. | ||
| 1697 | 4th (of 6) cast. | ||
| 1707 | Ring of 6 cast by Richard Phelps. | ||
| 1775 | 2 trebles added by Pack & Chapman to make 8. | ||
| 1776 | 3rd recast by Pack & Chapman. | ||
| 1805 | 4th recast by Thomas Mears. | ||
| 1834 | 2nd and tenor recast by Thomas Mears. | ||
| 1934 | Bells retuned (apart from the 3rd) and rehung by Mears & Stainbank, | ||
| 1972 | The canons were removed and the bells were rehung in the existing frame by Whitechapel. Since all the work took place in the tower, the bells were never reweighed, hence the approximate weights given for all the bells. |
| [1] | The Church standeth in the Hundred of Marden, & was called St. Maries, (which Church is very large, standeth upon avery highhill, and had to the same a very large, & tall spire or shaft; but upon Wednesday the 23. day of August 1637 (about eleven of the clock at night) there happened a most fierce, and sudden storme of thunder, and lightning, which set on fire the said steeple, and broke, and melted five great bels in the same, and burnt, and consumed foure lofts, and all the timber and woodwork of the steeple, and the stonework of the same was thereby so shaken and rent, that it was faine afterwards to be pulled down, and the Church, and leads, by fall of the timber, was much impaired. In the year following a collection (by way of Brief) was in this, and severall other Counties (for repaire of this mishap) and a parish tax also made for that purpose, and the foundation of the steeple begun anew of stone (almost up to the Roofe of the Church) but (by the falsity of the Collectors abroad, and dissention of the inhabitants at home) the worke went no further (onely a small low wooden top is set upon the stone-work, and one great Bell onely hung there, and so it now remaineth. (A topographie or survey of the county of Kent with some chronological, historicall, and other matters touching the same, and the several parishes and places therein, Kilburne, Richard, 1659) |
Peal Boards |
Photo: Christopher J Cooper, 1 May 2017 |
|
Recent Peals The most recent performances, according to BellBoard.
|
Recent Quarter Peals The most recent performances, according to BellBoard.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Full list of peals on Bellboard here |
Full list of quarters on Bellboard here |
| Love's Guide to the Church Bells of Kent | Page updated: 30 December 2020 |