Untitled Document
      Love's Guide to

The Bells of the City of London
St Benet Gracechurch
 

St Benet Gracechurch, Gracechurch


  • Formerly 5, then 1 bells, 18-3-7
  • Grid Ref: TQ329809
  • Diocese: London

Prior to 1666

Bell Weight Diameter Note Date Founder Retuned Fate

After 1666

Bell Weight*Weight
(WBF records)
Diameter Note Date Founder Retuned Fate
Service18-3-7E1692James BartlettNeverTransferred to St Benet, Stepney. Recast 1895.
Sanctus16½"B1668Anthony BartlettNeverTransferred to St Benet, Stepney

* Source of weight figures: WBF records

History

1552 Record of 5 large bells and a sanctus. [1]
1553 The ringers rang a "great peal" for Mary Tudor as she processed up from the Tower and through the City. [2]
1585 The tenor bell was recast by "Master Walter" for £9.9.0. [3]
1588 Murford the Smith was paid for a new dapper for the tenor bell. [4]
1666 The church was destroyed in the Great Fire.The church received for old iron £2 9s 6d, for three tons of lead £26 0s 0d and dust of bell metal £1 16s 6d. [5]
1668 A bell was cast by Anthony Bartlett to be the sanctus bell.
1686 The church was reopened, having been rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren.
1692 A large bell was cast by James Bartlett to be the service bell.
1696 The Vestry resolved that it would cost double the price to ring the great bell for another parish. [6]
1714 Paterson noted that there was no peal of bells in the church. [7]
1716 The tenor was rehung by M Jones. [8]
1824 Two bells were noted in the church. [9]
1868 The church was demolished for the widening of Gracechurch St. The parish was merged with that of All Hallows, Lombard St. The land was sold for £24,000 which was used to build St Benet's, Mile End Road. The two bells were transferred to this church.
1895 The large bell at St Benet's Mile End Road was recast at Whitechapel which noted that it weighed 18-3-7. [10]
[1] In the steple v grete belles and a sawnce bell and the clocke chyme and dyall (Edwardian Inventory, 1552)
[2] (Churchwarden Accounts)
[3] Paid to Master Walter for casting the great bell £9 9s 0d, for carrying the great bell 2s 0d and for mending the hanger of the great bell 5s 6d (Churchwarden Accounts 1585/6)
[4] (Churchwarden Accounts 1588/9)
[5] (One Greate Booke of Accounts With Clasps and Bosses, Harold F Phillips)
[6] The great bell may not be rung for another parish without paying double 7s 0d (Churchwardens accounts 1696/7)
[7] [The church] is now a large, stately, and proper Parish Church; but there are no new Monuments, Galleries, Peal of Bells, nor Organ in it. ("Pietas Londinensis Or the Present Ecclesiastical State of London", James Paterson AM, 1714)
[8] Paid to M Jones to new hanging of the great bell £10 0s 0d (Churchwardens accounts 1716/7)
[9] No bells. ()
[10] Recasting of old bell of 19-1-9 gross (18-3-7 net) from St.Benet, Stepney [i.e. the large bell from St.Benet’s, Gracechurch Street] (Whitechapel Daybook, 30 Nov 1895)

Articles

  • "Bells bells bells", Cleary, Helena (Friends of City Churches Newsletter) 1 August 2009


  • Love's Guide to the Church Bells of the City of London Page updated: 1 October 2023