The Bells of
Highweek Parish Church - A short history by
Robert D S Brown.
Like many parish churches,
Highweek has a peal of bells which fortunately can still be heard being rung on
a regular basis.
So what of the history
of the bells and tower at Highweek?
The current tower at All Saints
Church was built during the economic
peak that existed in Devon between 1400 and the late 16th Century,
for many churches the exact details of building works are not known however we
are fortunate that we can date from local records Highweek Church Tower to 1428
when it was consecrated by Bishop Lacy.
In 1553
Edward the VI undertook an Inventory of
Church Goods, which provides us with the first complete record of Bells in
Devon, from this we know that 225 Churches had four bells which was the most
common number, 182 had rings of 3 and 36 had rings of five. Exeter Cathedral had 13 bells but in the whole of Devon only two parishes
are listed as having 8 bells these being Wolborough and Highweek in each case
the bells being shared with their Chapels of Ease (In the case of Highweek
Newton Bushell Chapel of Ease) .
On the
18th of October 1864 the Reverend Ellacombe a well known belfry
reformer as part of his work documenting church bells in the county, recorded
the details of the bells at All Saint Church.
From this record we know there
were six bells all of which had been cast by The Pennington family who were
well know West Country bell founders and who traveled around the area casting
bells. The bells all contain their marks
IP. CP. WP and the date 1781 on bells 1 to 3 and 5 and 6 and the date 1784 is on
bell 4, this suggest that the original bell may not have been very good and was
recast a couple of years after the rest of the peal.
In addition the 5th
contains the following inscription WILLIAM DREW: & RICHARD COYSH with the 6th
bell containing the inscription CHRISTOPHER
BEEKE VICAR: SAMUEL SEGAR: FEOFEE. It
was and still is common practice to add the name of Parish Priest, Church
wardens and Benefactors to some if not all the bells. We also know that at the time the bells were
cast by the Pennington family that it was the normal practice to cast bells on
site or nearby so it is highly likely that the bells would have been cast at or
near the Church.
Shortly after the First World War
in 1919 the bells were augmented from 6 to 8,
Those present on this occasion and shown in
the photograph were Charley Chudley, Lilly Adams, Jim Martin, Mr Mead (Ingleside)
Fred Muggeridge, Percy Martin, Mr Old, Mr Bowden, Mrs Horwell and 2 workmen.
The Children are Ron Chudley, Ken Horwell, Fred and Gordon Parker and Kath
Horwell. Unfortunately the name of the dog is unknown.
The work was undertaken by William
Aggett Bell hangers of Chagford with the two extra bells being cast by Taylors
foundry in Loughborough.
Further work was undertaken in
1934 when the bells were fully rehung in a new two tier frame in By Gillett and Johnston Bellhangers of
Croyden. At the same time the three lightest
bells were recast. The reason is not known as this was only 16 years after the
new bells had been cast. It may have been
done to better tune and match the front three bells in with the 5 older and
heavier Pennington bells.
The new bells have the following inscriptions
No 1 (Treble Bell) RECAST BY
GILLETT & JOHNHSTON CROYDEN 1935 (CFJ monogram) and on the waist THIS BELL
WAS GIVE IN MEMORY OF JOHN AND CAROLINE SEGAR OF RINGSLADE. TE DEVM LAVDAMVS. They also have a reference to the previous founder
19 TAYLOR 19 LOVGHBORO
No 2 and 3 Bells - RECAST BY
GILLETT & JOHNHSTON CROYDEN 1935 (CFJ monogram) AND ON THE WAIST IN
MEMORIAM JOHN KENDALL LLOYD-DOWNES – CHVRCHWARDEN 1907 – 1918, 19 TAYLOR
19 LOVGHBORO
These are the bells that still
ring out over Highweek and the town of Newton Abbot today.
With out additional support the
ringing of bells in this country is likely to die out if you would like to find
out more about ringing church bells or would like to learn then please contact
the tower Captain Robert Brown
