St Wystan's Tower Bells
The bells are rung for Sunday services and weddings. On the Thursday practice nights, new ringers are taught to master the skill of 'full circle' ringing first, to be able to control the bell, and then to ring with the other bells in sequence, and eventually to ring changes, where the bells interweave in set patterns. This regularly leads to a lifelong pastime, learning ever more methods, and ringing at towers locally and throughout the country.
If you would like to know more about bell ringing in Repton and perhaps have a go, contact David Roberts, or simply come on a Thursday night at 7.30 when you will be given a warm welcome.
The earliest reference to St. Wystan's bells is from the Churchwarden and Constable's accounts of 1583 when a bell was taken down, recast and reinstalled, and by the 19th century, there was a ring of six bells.
In the 1885 - 86 restoration of the church, the western arch was opened up and the floor of the ringers' chamber removed, bringing the ringers down to ground level. In 1896, the bells themselves were extensively overhauled with repair of the cracked 5th and 6th, and were set on new frames. The two bells tuned in D# and E, needed to complete the octave, were not added until 1935, when all eight were hung on ball bearings by John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough; the new bells cost £178. (For a description of repair work in the 19th and 20th centuries, and to the new bells, see below.)
Bell No: 1 (Treble)
Cast in 1935 by John Taylor & Co. Loughborough
Diameter 2' 4", Height 1' 10¾", Weight 5 cwt 0 q 10 lbs
Tuned in the note E
Inscription:
'Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Alfred Woodroofe Fletcher, Vicar. 1935'
Bell No: 2
Cast in 1935 by John Taylor & Co. Loughborough
Diameter 2' 55/8", Height 1' 117/8", Weight 5 cwt 3 q 2 lbs
Tuned in the note D#
Inscription:
'1935 This bell was given by William W. Worthington to the glory of God and in memory of his father Albert Octavius Worthington of Maple Hayes, Lichfield, who was a pupil at Repton School under Dr. Pears and was later appointed a governor of the school. He died in May, 1918.'
Bell No: 3
Cast in 1721 by Abraham Rudhall of Gloucester
Diameter 2' 9", Height 2' 3", Weight 7 cwt 3 q 19 lbs
Tuned in the note C#
Inscription:
'Fravncis Thacker of Lincolns Inn, Esqr. AR 1721'
AR are the initials of the bell founder, Abraham Rudhall, of Gloucester
Bell No: 4
Cast in 1622
Diameter 2' 10¾", Height 2' 4½", Weight 7 cwt 2 q 27 lbs
Tuned in the note B
Inscription:
'I sweetly toling men do call
to taste on meats that feed the soul
1622 Godfrey Thacker Jane Thacker'
Bell No: 5
Cast in 1774 by Pack & Chapman, London
Diameter 3' 0½", Height 2' 4½", Weight 8 cwt 1 q 18 lbs
Tuned in the note A
Inscription:
'Thos. Gilbert & Jno Tetley Church Wardens
1774 Pack & Chapman of London Fecit.'
Bell No: 6
Believed to have been cast by Richard Brasyer, Bell Founder of Norwich, who died in 1513. However, this attribution is questioned. More . . .
Diameter 3' 2", Height 2' 6½", Weight 9 cwt 2 q 21 lbs
Tuned in the note G#
Inscription and bell mark:
'+ Melodie Nomen Tenet Magdalene'
Bell mark of Richard Brasyer, of Norwich, Bell founder, who died in 1513.
A shield ; a lion's head ; a crown : a cross
Bell No: 7
Also cast by Richard Brasyer
Re-cast in 1896 by John Taylor & Co, Loughborough
Diameter 3' 6", Height 2' 10", Weight 12 cwt 2 q 26 lbs
Tuned in the note F#.
Inscription and bell mark:
'Vox dni ihu xri vox exultacionis'
Bell mark of Richard Brasyer ; a king's head ; a cross
Bell mark of John Taylor & Co.
Bell No: 8 (Tenor)
Bears the date of 1677
Re-cast by John Taylor & Co, Loughborough in 1896
Diameter 3' 11", Height 3' 1", Weight 17 cwt 3 q 0 lbs
Tuned in the note E.
Inscription and bell mark:
'Hec campana sacra fiat trinitate beata Gilb. Thackar Esq ; IC ; MW ; Ch Wardens 1677
(recast 1896)
G. Woodyatt, Vicar
J Astle TE Auden Churchwardens'
Bell mark of John Taylor & Co.
Repton's Oldest Bell
From The Parish Magazine, February 2015
Guide books show the date of St Wystan's Church sixth bell as 1513. The bell itself does not carry the date or the name of its founder but, like all bells, it does have inscriptions and the bell founder's mark. The three classic books on Repton's history - by Bigsby, Hipkins and MacDonald - all identify the founder as Richard Brasyer, and the date of the bell as not later than 1513, for this is when Richard Brayser died. He has been identified by a mark cast into the surface of the bell - a shield with three bells, a crown and twigs with leaves. In fact this is believed to be an earlier mark than the one that Richard was using at the time; he used a similar mark but with little ermine tails in place of the twigs. It is thought that the change was made when Richard's father (also Richard) retired. The twigged mark was certainly being used by them in their Norwich foundry as early as 1469. So our bell could be from before 1469.
However, when Richard Brasyer junior died without children, his will directed his executors to let a young bell founder have the use of the premises for a year and a day. If they hadn't sold the place by then, it was to be let for another year and a day. In fact the foundry didn't last much longer and gave way to a brewery, so it is perhaps not surprising that the bell mark turned up in the Leicester Foundry of the Watts family. The twigged shield appears on a bell at Evington near Leicester, inscribed 'Hugh Watts made me 1605'. Hugh Watts' father, Francis, seems to have started operations about 1564 and could have bought equipment from the Brasyer foundry. So there is a possibility that our bell came from the Watts' foundry in Leicester and is later than 1513. This was the view of Patricia Halls when she co-authored 'Church Bells of Derbyshire'. Based on an entry in St Wystan's churchwarden's accounts, she gives a date of 1583. It would make some sense as it would have been a real problem to carry a large bell all the way from Norwich when there were foundries closer in Leicester.
In Dove's Guide, however,a reference book used by modern bell ringers, the archivist from Loughborough bell foundry, takes a different line. Although agreeing that our bell is a Leicester bell, he states that it is not a Watts' bell but was produced by Thomas Bett, another Leicester bell founder, and should be dated from 1520 to 1530.
Repton Village History Group
"Repton's Merry Bells" ~ the Restoration Work of 1896
About 1896, F. C. Hipkins M.A., an assistant master at Repton School, wrote a treatise called "Repton's Merry Bells". The title came from an ode by an unnamed local poet:
"Barrow's big boulders, Repton's merry bells,
Foremark's cracked pancheons, and Newton's egg shells."
The book appears to have been prompted by the restoration of the bells in 1896. Hopkins writes:
"For some time our ring of six bells has only been 'chimed' as, owing to the state of the beams which supported them, it was considered dangerous to 'ring' them. During the month of January, 1896, Messrs. John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough, descendants of a long line of bell-founders, lowered the bells down and conveyed them to Loughborough, where they were thoroughly cleansed and examined. Four of them were sound, but two, the 5th and 6th, were found to be cracked. The 6th (the Tenor bell) worse than the 5th. The crack started in both bells from the 'crown staple', from which the 'Clapper' hangs, it (the staple) is made of iron and cast into the crown of the bell. This has been the cause of many cracked bells. The two metals, bell-metal and iron, not yielding equally, one has to give way, and this is generally the bell-metal. The 'Canons', as the projecting pieces of metal forming the handle, and cast with the bell, are called, and by which they are fastened to the 'headstocks', or axle tree, were found to be much worn with age. All the 'Canons' have been removed, and new ones have been made which pass through the centre hole, and upwards through a square hole in the headstocks, made of iron, to replace the old wooden ones. New bell frames of iron, made in the shape of the letter H, fixed into oak beams above and below, support the bells, which are now raised about three feet above the bell chamber floor, and thus they can be examined more easily.
"During the restoration of the church in 1886, the opening of the west arch necessitated the removal of the ringers' chamber floor, which had been made, at some period or other, between the ground floor and the groined roof, so ringers had to mount above the groined ceiling when they had to ring or chime the bells. There, owing to want of distance between them and the bells, the labour and inconvenience of ringing was doubled, the want of sufficient leverage was much felt; now the ringers stand on the ground floor, and with new ropes and new 'sally-guides' their labour is lessened, and the ringing improved."
After details of the size, weights and notes of the bells, he concludes:
"To complete the octave, two more bells are required, D# and E, then indeed Repton will have a 'ring' second to none."
Rehanging in 1926
The Parish Magazine of November 1925 records that as part of repairs to the damaged spire "during the coming months", the bells "are to be re-hung on a new cage which is to be considerably lowered. This will give more strength and will do away with a great amount of vibration, which has undoubtedly done a great deal of damage to the Spire. I am sure it will be a delight to all to hear the old bells ring again."
New Bells and Repairs in 1935
From The Parish Magazine, March 1935
"Amongst other matters of great interest discussed at the Annual Meeting was that of the Church bells. A report from Messrs John Taylor & Co, the famous bell founders of Loughborough, from which it appears that the gudgeons and bearings of the bells are worn beyond repair. Messrs Taylor & Co recommend that the bells should be thoroughly overhauled and re-hung on new ball bearings, at a cost of £88. That, however, is not all. So far as the records show, Repton has never yet had its full peal of bells. In the time of Edward VI there were 'three great bells and two small' and the number was afterwards increased to six. But as the late Rev F C Hipkins said in his account of 'Repton's Merry Bells', 'To complete the octave two more bells are required, D and E, then indeed Repton will have a ring second to none.'
"Messrs Taylor & Co undertake to supply these two additional bells for the sum of £178 provided that this is done in conjunction with the re-hanging of the old bells. The Annual Meeting was unanimous in recommending that the whole scheme be carried out. It is, indeed, an opportunity on no account to be missed, since one of the two new bells has already been offered as a gift and about £40 has been promised towards the cost of the other."