A HISTORY OF NESTON BELLS

There were certainly bells in the tower in 1549, when Neston was visited by two Royal Commissioners. They drew up an inventory of church ornaments, including three bells, but a much shorter list prepared the following year mentions only two bells.

There were again three bells at Neston in 1664, when the churchwardens entered into a contract with a bell founder from Wigan called Jeffrey or Geoffrey Scott to recast the treble and second, which were cracked. Scott died in 1665 without having received his fees in the matter, and his executors were unable to obtain payment. In October 1667 they therefore took the matter to court, maintaining that Jeffrey Scott had fulfilled his part of the contract when he recast the two bells, which now weighed 1,520 lbs. The churchwardens replied that the contract they had made with Scott had been to recast the treble and second to fit in with the existing tenor, but that when the new bells were hung in the tower the ring was found to be very untuneable. Scott told them that "much ringing would make it right" and altered the clapper. As this did not give satisfaction he returned to Neston and attempted to retune the bell, remarking that "the parish need not fear whilst they had both bells and money". At a later date he also added more weight to the clapper, but when this still did not remedy the situation the parish refused to pay him. Unfortunately the records covering the end of the dispute have been lost and the outcome of the court case is not known.

Between 1700 and 1731 the churchwardens' accounts refer to a middle and a great bell at Neston, which would suggest that at this time there were three bells in the tower. In 1724, however, a new ring of five bells cast by Abraham Rudhall was hung in Burton church, and Neston immediately decided to obtain new bells also. A ring of six bells was agreed upon, but some delay was caused by a new gallery which was being erected in the church at that time and it was not until 1731 that the old bells were taken down. This was apparently done by removing the roof of the tower and later erecting a new one. Under the supervision of the churchwardens the bells were then conveyed to Shrewsbury by cart and from there by barge down the Severn to the Rudhall works at Gloucester. In the meantime the interior of the tower was renovated and a new bell frame installed by Joseph Wrigley of Manchester.

When the bells reached Gloucester they were melted down and 800 lbs of metal added to form a new ring of six. This was cast by Abraham Rudhall in the key of A flat as shown in the separate Neston's Early Bells table.

In 1804 the tenor of the ring of six was recast by Thomas Webster, a Liverpool brass founder. It is not known why the Rudhall bell needed recasting, but the new tenor can hardly have given satisfaction as it was later said of it that it "was not only very flat but was in shape, and therefore in quality of tone, as bad as it could be". Details of this bell are as follows:

Note	Weight	Inscription
A flat	11-1-7	William Hutchenson and Andrew Gibbons, Churchwardens,1804

The church tower at Neston had originally possessed a stone spire on top of the belfry, but by the nineteenth century this had disappeared. The nave of the church, on the other hand, had increased in size, so in 1854 an additional storey was added to the tower to bring it to the height necessary to match the nave. The bells were moved from the original belfry, which is now known as the clock room, into the new top storey.

Tradition has it that the bellringers originally stood to ring on the ground floor of the tower, which was open to the nave through a Norman arch. When the bells were moved up into the modern belfry, however, the draught of the ropes was found to be excessive and a ringing chamber was therefore constructed below the clock room. It is believed that a peal was rung from the ground floor of the tower in 1899, as the peal board commemorating the event was hung there rather than in the ringing chamber. The ground floor was certainly no longer being used by the ringers in 1933, when it was closed in for use as a choir vestry.

In 1875 the nave and chancel of the church were completely rebuilt, but the tower was retained. Inspection of the bell frame at this time showed it to be in very poor condition, but only temporary repairs were carried out. Early in 1883, however, one bell broke down, and the frame was found to be in so dangerous a condition that ringing had to be stopped.

At first consideration was given to recasting all the bells to produce a heavier ring of six but in the event four of the existing bells were retained as these were in good condition if not perfectly in tune. At the suggestion of the Rev. Herbert A. Cockey the only bells to be recast were the fourth, which was cracked, and the tenor, which had always been a bell of poor quality. Four new bells were then added by Mears & Stainbank to make a ring of eight in the key of F# as shown in the separate Neston's Present Bells table.

The Mears & Stainbank bells all have a band of ornament just below the shoulder which is copied from a twelfth or early thirteenth century scroll surrounding an arch in San Zeno, Verona. The augmented ring was hung in the tower in a frame of English oak, the Rudhall bells being quarter turned at the same time. The bells were rung for the first time on 23rd October 1884.

It would appear that the new frame cannot have been keyed in securely as in 1913 a crack appeared in the south wall of the tower. The foundations were underpinned and the louvre on the south side of the clock room bricked up to strengthen the wall, but it was not until 1953 that the problem was finally resolved by the insertion of a steel girder underneath the bell frame.

The bells are at present in good condition although they will soon require quarter turning.

Susan E Costello