ST MICHAEL, Cornhill |
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DETAILS OF THE BELLS |
Bell Weight Diameter
Note Cast Founder Treble
5-3-12 29" F sharp 1746
Thomas Lester 2
5-2-7 293/4" E 1746
Thomas Lester 3
7-0-11 311/2" D sharp 1728 Richard Phelps 4
8-2-0 333/4" C sharp 1728 Richard Phelps 5 10-2-15 373/8" B 1968 Mears & Stainbank 5 before 1968 10-0-4 B 1795 Thomas Mears I 6 10-2-14 377/8" A sharp 1960 Mears & Stainbank 7 11-1-3 391/2" G sharp 1728 Richard Phelps 8 14-1-2 441/4" F sharp 1740 Thomas Lester 9 18-2-26 48" E 1960 Mears & Stainbank 10 20-2-20 503/4" D sharp 1960 Mears & Stainbank 11 26-0-18 55" C sharp 1910 Mears & Stainbank Tenor 42-0-6 63" B 1960 Mears & Stainbank
INSCRIPTIONS |
| 1. | THOMAS LESTR MADE J746 (Whitechapel border: 3 loops) | |||||||||||
| 2. | THOS LESTER MADE ME J746 | |||||||||||
| 3. | MAGNIFICAT ANIMA R : PHELPS FECIT 1728 | |||||||||||
| 4. | IUBILATE DEO R : PHELPS FECIT. 1 7 2 8 | |||||||||||
| 5. | CAST 1793 THE REVD THOS ROBT
WRENCH M.A. RECTOR. MESSRS LUCAS BIRCH PHILIP GRUBB JOH
NORVILLE |
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| 6. | EXULTATE IUSTI R PHELPS 1728 | |||||||||||
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| 7. | CANTATE DOMINO. R : PHELPS FECIT 1728 | |||||||||||
| 8. | T : LESTER LONDINI FECIT 1740 IOHN SMITH EDMD WAYTE IOHN HUNT CH : WARDENS | |||||||||||
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| 10. |
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| 11. |
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| 12. | THIS BELL RECAST ANNO DOMINI 1795 THE REV THOS ROBT WRENCH M.A. RECTOR (10 loops) | |||||||||||
| MESSRS LUCAS BIRCH PHILIP GRUBB JOSEPH NORVILLE CHURCH WARDENS (12 loops) THOS MEARS OF LONDON | ||||||||||||
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| Notes: The 2nd has a colon under the superscript S. The inscription on the 5th is not in facsimile. There is a single dot beneath each of the superscript letters with a single dot under the raised "RS" of "MESSRS". On the 6th, the "X" is a very curved letter. The inscription band is in facsimile. On the 8th, the grey letters are incised into the bell. There is a colon beneath each of the superscript letters. The "W" of "WAYTE" is formed from two interlocking Vs. On the 9th and 10th and tenor, the inscription is in facsimile. The inscription on the 11th is not in facsimile. |
FORMER BELLS |
| 1728 | 1738 | 1740 | 1746 | 1795 | 1910 | 1960 | 1968 | |
| 1 | Richard Phelps | Thos
Lester 5-3-12 |
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| 2 | Richard Phelps | Thos
Lester 5-2-7 |
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| 3 | Richard
Phelps 7-0-11 |
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| 4 | Richard
Phelps 8-2-0 |
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| 5 | Richard Phelps | Thos
Mears I 10-0-4 |
M&S 10-2-15 |
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| 6 | Richard
Phelps 10-3-2 |
M&S 10-2-14 |
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| 7 | Richard
Phelps 11-1-3 |
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| 8 | Richard Phelps | Thos
Lester 14-1-2 |
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| 9 | Richard
Phelps 18-1-14 |
M&S 18-2-26 |
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| 10 | Richard
Phelps 20-2-20 |
M&S 20-2-20 |
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| 11 | Richard
Phelps 27-2-14 gross; 26-3-14 net |
M&S 26-0-18 |
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| 12 | Richard Phelps |
Lester & Pack | Thos
Mears I 39-1-15 |
M&S 42-0-6 |
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The weights of the bells given are scrapping weights, apart from those for the present bells (which are current). |
| 5. | CAST
1793 THE REVD THOS
ROBT WRENCH M.A. RECTOR.
MESSRS LUCAS BIRCH PHILIP
GRUBB JOH NORVILLE CH.
WARDENS THOS MEARS OF LONDON |
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| 6. | EXULTATE IUSTI R PHELPS 1728 | ||||||||||||||
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| 10. |
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| 12. | THIS BELL RECAST ANNO DOMINI 1795 THE REV THOS ROBT WRENCH M.A. RECTOR OF ST MICHAELS CORNHILL (W Border) | ||||||||||||||
| MESSRS LUCAS BIRCH PHILIP GRUBB JOSEPH NORVILLE CHURCH WARDENS (Whitechapel Border) | |||||||||||||||
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HISTORY |
1421 |
Building of church began. 5 bells were placed in the tower (a minor 5). | |
c. 1430 |
Tenor added to make 6, the gift of John Whitwell, his wife Isabel and William Rus (alderman and goldsmith). This bell weighed over 30 cwt and was called Rus. | |
| 1521 | The Churchwarden accounts refer to the bells, mentioning the Great Bell, called Russe, the bell called Myhill, the Mary bell, the bell called Trinitye "the bell next it downeward", and the least bell. | |
| 1552 | Record of 6 bells and 2 smaller saunce bells ("vj greate belles and ij saunce belles"). | |
| 1567 | A bell was recast by Robert Doddes. | |
| 1585 | A broken saunce bell was sold and the broken treble bell was recast. | |
| 1587 | The tenor (which was cracked) was recast by Lawrence Wright. This was a poor job and the bell was disliked and rejected. The old bell was 30-0-14. Wright included 1-1-14 of new metal. | |
| 1588 | The tenor was recast by Robert Mot, but this too was a poor bell. | |
| 1589 | Finally Robert Mot produced an acceptable recast tenor. | |
| 1596 | Bells rehung in a new frame by John Brissenden, a carpenter reported to be of good skill so that "they shalbe rung with much more ease ... by fewer men ... with 8, 9 or 10 men at the moste" and to "ease the steeple of much shaking". This work cost £12. | |
| 1599 | The tenor became cracked again, and again Mot had to cast more than one bell before an acceptable bell could be produced (weighing 31 cwt). One of the attempts was rejected and was sent to Westminster Abbey where it was used as the tenor there. The inscription referred to it being a gift by William Rus in 1430 and recast in 1599. It is not known when this translation took place. | |
| 1652 | The first record of 8 bells in addition to the 2 saunce bells - the old 6 had been augmented with 2 trebles. | |
| 1666 | The church and 10 bells were destroyed in the Great Fire, although the tower was not wholly burned down. | |
| 1679 | Church rebuilt according to Wren's design. | |
| 1715-17 | The old tower was demolished and a new tower begun under Wren. | |
| 1718-22 | Tower completed under Hawksmoor. | |
| 1728 | 12 bells were cast by Richard Phelps and hung in the new tower. | |
| 1728 | 4th Dec. | Bells first rung "on account of the arrival in tower, from Holland, of H.R.H. Frederick, Prince of Wales". |
| 1738 | Tenor recast by Lester & Phelps. | |
| 1740 | 8th recast by Thomas Lester. | |
| 1746 | Treble and 2nd recast by Thomas Lester. | |
| 1795 | 5th and Tenor recast by Thomas Mears I (the tenor had cracked through clocking). | |
| 1910 | 11th recast by Mears & Stainbank, who rehung the remainder in a new wooden frame lower down the tower. The original frame was left in situ. | |
| 1958 | 11th gudgeon broke. | |
| 1960 | The 6th, 9th, 10th and Tenor were found to be cracked and so were recast, with the remainder being retuned by Mears & Stainbank. | |
| 1961 | 14th Feb. | Bells rededicated by the Bishop of Stepney. |
| 1996 | A new timber 2-skin ceiling to the ringing room was built to replace the acoustically terrible horse-hair and tongue & groove ceiling. | |
| 1999 | The new ceiling was again replaced with a new tongue and groove ceiling at the request of the church architect. Sound control was also installed in the louvres. | |
| 2004 | Cracks were found in the pinnacles on the tower. All ringing was stopped for a few weeks pending their restoration lest they should fall off the tower on to the pavement. |
PHOTOGRAPHS |
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This is an
interesting picture of the two Cornhill towers, taken while the |
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Cutting from the Daily Telegraph, June 1960. |
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The 9th, on the upper tier. |
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Bells on the upper tier. The 7th is in the foreground. |
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The 8th. A chip came out of the lip of the bell in the early 2000s by a flying clapper. |
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The treble. |
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The 3rd and 4th on the upper tier. |
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The tenor. |
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| The interesting inscription on the 10th. |
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| The tenor. |
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| The 11th with the names of the 1728 trustees reproduced on it. |
STRANGE GOINGS ON... |
| William Gibbs Rogers wrote a description of the church wood carvings in 1864 in which he quotes from Stow's Survey of London, (1598), concerning a legend that gave inspiration for the carving on the church wardens' pew. He refers to a bell in the bell tower "given by John Whitwell, Isobel his wife, and Wm. Rue or Rous, Alderman and Goldsmith, about the yeere 1430, which bell, named Rus ..."Rogers continues to quote: "And here note of this steeple as I have oft heard my father report upon St James's night certaine men in the loft next under the bells, ringing of a peale, a tempest of thunder and lightnings did arise, and an ugly shapen sight appeared to them coming in at the south window, and lighted on the north, for feare thereof, they all fell down and lay as dead for the time, letting the bells ring and cease of their own accord. When the ringers came to themselves, they found certaine stones of the north window to be 'razed' and 'scrat' as if they had been so much butter printed with a lion's claw, the same stones were fastened there again, and so remain to this day; I have seen them oft, and have put a feather or small stick into the holes where the claws had entered three or four inches deep." W.G. Rogers's son, George Alfred Rogers, wrote his own account of the carvings in 1867. He quotes again from Stow and adds a description of the pew carving: 'The print of the Devil's claw is carved on some stones, and Canterbury Bells are growing behind to show it was in the belfry - above is the "Rus" or "Rous" bell one of the ancient bells of this church. The bell now in place of the "Rus" was given by the father of the present Rector and bears his name. This peal of bells is celebrated throughout the city for their fine tone.' The pew in question is the first on the left as you enter the nave from the west. |
