|
 
Arreton Brading Brighstone Carisbrooke Chale Freshwater Godshill Newchurch Newport Niton Ryde Shanklin Shorwell Whitwell |
 |
6 bells,
7-1-15 |
Tuesdays 7.30, Sunday 9.45-10.30
|
Upstairs, ladder inside
church |
 SZ429827 |
| Street parking near
church, or head west to the pub (Three Bishops) with public car park &
toilets beyond. Recast & re hung on existing wooden frame in 1961. A lovely
ring of bells with a light tenor, but trebles are not too small, so the bells
are very easy to ring. A new upstairs ringing room was put in in 1995. The pub
(The Three Bishops) has a children's room, and has been taken over by Gales,
but The Countryman (towards Shorwell) is better. It was named after the three
rectors of Brighstone that went on to become Bishops. Small tea garden by the
church; National Trust shop along the road. |
The earliest record of any bells
were in the inventories compiled by the commissioners of Henry VIII in 1536
when there were three bells plus a sanctus bell. References to the sanctus bell
are in the Parish Records until 1590 and then cease, its ultimate fate is
unknown. The Parish Records speak of casting a 'Great Bell' at Romsey in 1610,
and a 'Midle Bell' at Newport in 1613.
In 1740 the bells were recast,
rehung and augmented to five. The work was done by Joshua Kipling of
Portsmouth, known as a good producer of moulds but a poor designer of bells. A
brass gun which was housed in a 'gun house', at one time next to the north side
of the tower, is believed to have been incorporated into the bell metal at this
time. The original treble (the present second) became cracked in 1780 and was
recast by Thomas Mears in 1800. The bells were again rehung by Mears and the
second bell (present third) was recast in 1877; the inscription "SUCCESS TO THE
GREAT ADMIRAL VERNON" and the impressions of the Vernon medal are thought to
have been lost from the bell during this casting. In 1961 the present bells
were recast and rehung and a new treble was added, being the gift of Frank
Cheverton in memory of his wife. |
|