Untitled Document
      Love's Guide to

The Bells of the City of London
St Mary Abchurch
 

St Mary Abchurch, Cannon St


Photo: Dickon Love, May 2001

  • Single bell hung dead
  • Tenor: 5-3-20 in D.
  • Grid Ref: TQ327809
  • Frame: 1687 oak frame.
  • Diocese: London
  • Building Listed Grade: I. Click for Heritage details.

Details of the Bells

Bell Weight
(most recent)*
Diameter Note Date FounderRetuned
Single Bell 5-3-2030" D 1675 James Bartlett, WhitechapelNever

* Source of weight figures: Nigel Taylor
 - Hung dead

Inscriptions

How the bells are tuned

History

1552 Record of 6 bells in the tower, although they were probably 4 large and 2 small bells. [1]
1666 The church and bells were destroyed in the Great Fire.
1675 The present bell was cast by James Bartlett.
1681 Church began to be rebuilt by Wren with a tower of 4 storeys rising to 51 ft. The bell was hung in a new frame, for ringing. The church was completed in 1687.
1687 The date of the oak frame in which the current bell hangs.
1708 Record of 3 bells in the tower. [2]
1714 Record of 4 small bells in the tower. [3]
1897 Record of only a single bell.
2016 The single bell was rehung with new swing-chiming fittings including a wooden headstock, late gudgeons, ball bearings and an iron lever by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. It was not tuned.
[1] Item vi belles in the stepull greate & small (Edwardian Inventory, 1552)
[2] A tower "wherein are 3 bells". (Paterson, A M, 1708)
[3] "four small bells". (Source tba, 1714)

Pictures of the church



Photo: ASCY collection


Photo:


Photo:

The church in c.1910
Photo: Spitalfields Life

The belfry before the 2016 restoration


Michael Royalton-Kisch with the derelict bell.
Photo: Dickon Love, 18 Jan 2007

The service bell.
Photo: Dickon Love, 18 Jan 2007

The bell in the derelict frame.
Photo: Dickon Love, 18 Jan 2007


Love's Guide to the Church Bells of the City of London Page updated: 13 October 2019