Arreton
Brading
Brighstone
Carisbrooke
Chale
Freshwater
Godshill
Newchurch
Newport
Niton
Ryde
Shanklin
Shorwell
Whitwell
 |
6 bells, 8-3-7 | Practice alternate Mondays 7.30
(alternates with Chale), Sunday
10.30-11.00 |
Upstairs, ladder inside church |  SZ528818 |
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| Park on the road near the church if you are lucky (very narrow) or if not then the pub car park (The Griffin, children's room & rear garden) or public car park (opposite pub) are in the centre of the village, a few hundred yards along the road leading to Shanklin (down the hill from the church, and then turn right at main road). Nice bells, and all go well. There is no easy way of getting down the steep stairs. Queen Victoria used to stop in Godshill for tea, and the coach trips have been doing it ever since. The old village has tea rooms, shell museum, model village, Old Smithy and more tea rooms. | ||||||||
| The current church is the fourth on
the present site on the hill just south of the village, the first being in the
11th century, the lower part of the tower along with the present church being
built in the 14th century. The legend is that the church was to be built in the
meadow at the bottom of the hill, but each day the workmen found the stones had
been moved to the top. It was decided that this must be God's will, hence
"Godshill". The upper stage of the tower with pinnacles was built in the 16th
century. The ring of six bells were all cast by Llewellins and James of Bristol in 1887, replacing the previous bells of 1815 by Mears & Stainbank of London. It is one of the few complete rings by this founder remaining. The cannons on the top of each bell were removed by John Taylor of Loughborough in 1934 (the weights predate this and are about a half hundredweight too heavy) as part of the work of retuning (some would say "tuning") and rehanging on ball bearings in a new metal frame. All bells are inscribed Cast by Llewellins and James, Bristol, 1887. |
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| Treble | In
memory of The Jubilee of Queen Victoria 1887 Thomas Ratcliffe Vicar
Ring, ring, ye bells & sweetly tell that Christ has conquered death and hell |
3-3-13 | F | ||||
| 2 | With
loving voice I call to Church and prayer and bid the living for the grave prepare |
3-3-27 | D# | ||||
| 3 | The
public raised us with a liberal hand we come with harmony to cheer the land |
4-2-26 | C# | ||||
| 4 | When
female virtue weds with manly worth we catch the rapture and we speed it forth |
5-2-26 | C | ||||
| 5 | Here
let us pause and now with one accord salute the Church Triumphant in the Lord |
6-1-0 | A# | ||||
| Tenor | May
all whom I shall summon to the grave the blessing of a well-spent life receive |
8-3-7 | G# |
This page maintained by steve@noyes.org.uk.