Whitstable St Alphege

WHITSTABLE, St Alphege

Photo Benjamin Legg

	8 bells
	Tenor 3-1-13 in G
	Grid Ref. TR107664
	Canterbury District
	Frame: 1969 Whitechapel
	Retuning: Never subsequently retuned
	Upstairs Ringing Room
	The Lightest Ring of 8 in Kent
	Parish formerly known as Seasalter
	PEALS

DETAILS OF THE BELLS

Bell	Weight	Diameter	Cast	Founder
1	1-0-7	15Ľ"	1973	Whitechapel
2	1-0-15	15ľ"	1973	Whitechapel
3	1-2-2	17"	1975	Whitechapel
4	1-1-26	18"	1969	Whitechapel
5	1-2-22	19"	1969	Whitechapel
6	1-3-13	20"	1969	Whitechapel
7	2-1-15	22"	1969	Whitechapel
8	3-1-13	24"	1969	Whitechapel

NISI DOMINUS FRUSTRA

WE SIX WERE MADE EIGHT
BY ST. ALPHEGE RINGERS & FRIENDS

19		73
WHITECHAPEL

GLORY BE TO GOD ON HIGH

LINDA CAWLEY
1902 - 1969
THE GIFT OF HER FAMILY

GILBERT WATSON CAWLEY
1899 - 1967
CHURCHWARDEN 1964 - 1967
THE GIFT OF HIS FAMILY

RECAST
19		75

1851
ALFRED & AUGUSTA NICHOLLS

RECAST
19		69

J755
JAMES HUBERT BURROUGH

RECAST
19		69

J755
WYNN AND MARY ELLIS

RECAST
19		69

(orn. loop) LESTER & PACK J755
BARRETT BEQUEST 1968

RECAST
19		69

ROBARD [ GVRNEY MADE ME [ 1665
FIVE BELLS FROM S^T ANDREW, TOTTINGTON, NORFOLK
ALL RECAST 1969.

RECAST
19		69
WHITECHAPEL

The bells are tuned to the Equal Temperament scale.

Belfry Ephemera

Bell wheel serving as coathanger, ex St Margaret's Canterbury with the name plate from the chiming apparatus (S. B. Goslin) on it.
Clappers, mounted, from the 1592 and 1845 bells.
Framed set of photographs of Tottington, 1845 bell and installation of new bells (featuring the late Harry Parkes)

There are no windows in the ringing room. It was hard enough for the Vicar to consent to the bells without lowering the ringing room floor (but he was "converted" and backed the augmentation of 1973!).

Bell	Weight	Diameter	Cast	Founder	Fate
3	1-1-6	17"	1969	Whitechapel	Recast 1975

GILBERT WATSON CAWLEY
CHURCHWARDEN 1964 - 1967
THE GIFT OF HIS FAMILY

This bell was purchased by Whites of Appleton and hung in a church in Oxfordshire where it is a chiming bell.

Bell	Weight	Diameter	Pitch	Cast	Founder	Fate
Original single bell	12-2-17	42"	F sharp	1845	Charles & George Mears	Removed 1968

1.	C & G MEARS FOUNDERS LONDON
	THE GIFT OF M^RS WYNN ELLIS OF TANKERTON 1845

1560		Bells from the old church stolen by Mayor Lynche of Sandwich!
1592		Bell cast for the old church by Robert Mot of Whitechapel (rehung by Whitechapel in 1967).
1665		5th cast for St Andrew, Tottington, Norfolk by Robert Gurney.
1755		2nd, 3rd and 4th cast for St Andrew, Tottington, Norfolk by Lester & Pack.
1845		A bell, weighing 12-2-17, was cast by C. & G. Mears.
1845	9th Oct.	The present church was consecrated by Archbishop Howley.
1846		The nave of the old church was demolished. The bell was rehung in the chancel turret.
1851		Treble cast for St Andrew, Tottington, Norfolk by John Taylor.
1920		A set of tubular bells, cast by Messrs Harrington, Holland & Co of Coventry was given to the church. The treble weighed 0-2-7 and the tenor 1-1-11. The whole installation weighed 7-0-13. They were given by Mr & Mrs Alfred Nicholls of Stocksfield, Newcastle-upon-Tyne as a private War Memorial.
1942		The church of St Andrew, Tottington, Norfolk was closed and the bells removed.
1947		Tubular bells restored by Mrs M. Burrough as a memorial to her son who was killed in action in 1943.
1968		The tubular bells and the larger bell were removed and sold, the proceeds of which helped to pay for the installation of six new ringing bells.
1969	31st Jan.	5 smaller bells were brought from Tottington, Norfolk.
1969	23rd Apr.	A new ring was cast from the metal of the front 5 bells from St Andrew, Tottington, Norfolk at Whitechapel, with a new treble given to make 6.
1969	21st Sep.	New ring of six dedicated by the Bishop of Dover.
1973		2 trebles added to make 8 by Whitechapel.
1974	6th Jan	New bells dedicated by the Archdeacon of Canterbury.
1975		3rd replaced with a bell 24 lbs heavier, cast at Whitechapel, dedicated by the Rev'd David Cawley on 31st January, 1976.

DETAILS OF THE RING FROM
ST ANDREW, TOTTINGTON, NORFOLK

Bell	Weight	Diameter	Pitch	Cast	Founder
1	3-2-25	24⅞"	F sharp	1851	John Taylor & Son
2	2-2-20	25⅝"	E	1755	Lester & Pack
3	2-3-19	26˝"	D	1755	Lester & Pack
4	3-0-0	27ľ"	C sharp	1755	Lester & Pack
5	2-3-26	30"	B	1665	Robert Gurney, Bury St Edmunds
6	6˝ cwt approx.	33"	A	1650	John Brend, Norwich

1.	Iohn Taylor and Son 1851
	+ Gloria : in : excelsis : Deo
2.	LESTER & PACK OF LONDON FECIT J755

3.	LESTER & PACK OF LONDON FECIT J755

4.
	LESTER & PACK FECIT (2 ornamental loops)(roughly inscribed)
5.	ROBARD [ GVRNEY MADE ME [ 1665

6.	IOH BRED MADE ME 1650


The Tottington bells leave Norfolk for ever on31st January, 1969, to be recast into the back 5 at St Alphege.	The old "Great Bell" of Seasalter being dismantled in August 1968.	Whitechapel bellhanger, Philip Jakeman (with his son Stephen) with the smallest bells he ever hung for ringing - in his own tower in Whitstable!

The new ring of 6 bells at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, July 1969.