Ampthill

Ringers

The Bells

The information in this section is taken from "Ampthill Church Bells" by Christopher J Pickford, published by James W Yates (a former Ampthill Tower Captain) in 1980 when the two newest bells were cast.

There is documentary evidence of bells at St. Andrew's since the fifteenth century and we know there were five bells as far back as 1708, when a glebe terrier mentions "five bells and a clock".

The third of this ring was inscribed as cast by Christopher Graye, who was an itinerant bellfounder who actually worked in Ampthill from about 1656 to 1665.  He also cast a bell at Jesus College, Cambridge at Ampthill in 1659.  Unfortunately any inscriptions on the other four bells were lost when they were recast in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The old treble and tenor bells were recast in 1725 by Thomas Eayre of Kettering, a noted bellfounder.  Some forty years later the fourth bell became cracked and was recast by a local man, William Emerton of Wootton.

Last to be recast was the second, by John Briant of Hertford in 1811.

A sixth bell was added in 1899 after the bells were recast by Taylors of Loughborough and the augmented ring rehung in a new frame.

Details from Taylors of the bells rehung in 1899 (click on image to enlarge)	The two bells cast in 1980

The two smallest bells were cast in 1980, again by Taylors, to make the current ring of eight.  They were dedicated on 19th July 1981 at the Sung Eucharist service.

2006 photographs

The bells are tuned in A flat (or G, depending on where you look!), the individual bells tuned on the five-tone principle first developed by John Taylor & Co in 1896.  The use of cast iron in bell frames and fittings was another feature of bellhanging introduced by Taylors in the 1890s, and so Ampthill bells are an early example of a ring tuned and hung on modern principles.

Bell	Inscription				Diameter inches	Weight
						cwt	qrs	lbs
1	O PRAISE THE LORD WITH ME *AMPTHILL* 1980 / (T)				25	4	0	7*
2	LIVE LONG AND PROMOTE THE WORD OF GOD *AMPTHILL* 1980 / (T)				26	4	2	14*
3	A.D. 1899 (P) / PRESENTED BY RICHARD FIELDER / AND HIS WIFE, / RESIDENTS OF AMPTHILL, / TO THE GLORY OF GOD / AND HIS CHURCH. / (T)				27 1/4	4	3	2
4	IHS NAZARENE REX IUDAEORUM FILI DEI MISERERE MEI † GLORIA DEO SOLI † A:-DOM 1725 / (P) / (T) / *RECAST 1898*				29	5	2	19
5	T:B:STONE & J:KIRK C:WARDENS J:BRIANT HERTFORD FECIT 1811 † / (P) / (T) / *RECAST 1898*				31 1/2	6	2	5
6	CHRISTOPHER GRAYE MADE ME 1665 / (P) / (T) / *RECAST 1898*				33	7	1	21
7	DAVID BRODIE ESQ	CHURCHWARDENS (P)	CHARLES WHEELER	(P)	37	10	1	26
	JOHN LEACH		WILLIAM JONES
	WILLIAM EMERTON OF WOOTTON	MADE ME (P) 1768 (P) (P)/ (P) / (T) / *RECAST 1898*
8	IHS NAZARENE REX IUDAEORUM FILI DEI MISERERE † GLORIA PATRI FILIO ET SPIRITUI SANCTO. T.EAYRE KETT. 1725 / (P) / (T) / *RECAST 1898*				41	13	3	6

Notes:  The inscriptions of the original bells are reproduced in modern lettering on the 1898 bells.  (T) denotes the trade mark of John Taylor & Co, (P) denotes pattern, and the different lines of the inscriptions as they occur on the bells are indicated by oblique strokes, ie /.  In each case the first line of the inscription occurs on the inscription band, the rest appears on the waist of the bell.   * indicates cast weights.