Something only a few people have seen (until now) are the inner workings of All Saints’ Church clock and bells. Below is an account of a visit I made to the church tower in November 2022 with Eddie Bishop and Joe Roake. Eddie was the official clock winder for 31 years, with Joe taking over in 2022.
The entrance to the tower is up the stairs, which has a single handrail.
The first platform houses the lower part of the pendulum with the clock above it. The clock has two mechanisms; the left hand side provides power to ring the bells, the right hand side the power for the clock itself. The clock needs to be wound weekly, which returns the counterweight to the top of the tower.
The clock was made by Sir John Bennett, whose shop at 64-65 Cheapside was a short distance from St Paul’s Cathedral and the famous church of St Mary-Le-Bow (home to the famous ‘Bow Bells’) in the City of London. It is not known exactly when the clock was made and installed but it is likely to have been at the time the tower was converted from its original castellated construction to the current ‘saddleback’ version, during the time James Chapman was Rector of All Saints’ (1863-1880).
The clock and chimes are separately wound on a weekly basis and there are two weights (the smaller one is for the clock and the larger for the chimes). For the past thirty one years, the clock has been lovingly maintained by Eddie Bishop, who has mastered its many foibles. He has recently passed its care to Joe Roake.
Eddie and Joe lovingly repaired the clock together a few years ago. The reassuring sound of the clock striking the hour (by use of the tenor bell) is much loved in the village and was missed during its necessary restoration and refurbishment. Please see the plaques that commemorate the clock’s restoration as well as Eddie’s years of loving care.
The dial shown below indicates the time shown outside.
On the left hand side is a ratchet mechanism which decides how many bongs occur during each 12 hour period. The further along the ratchet, the more bongs take place.
The reason Eddie remains so sprightly is that to check the clock outside was showing the right time, he had to run down the big ladder, go outside, check the front dial, and then climb back up again to make adjustments. When Joe took over he had the bright idea of using a mirror on a telescopic stick, which fits through a tiny gap in a window and enables him to see the clock face without all the running up and down!
The windmill-like sails on the front of the chiming mechanism regulate the speed of the clock chimes.
Shown here is the steel spring from which the entire weight of the pendulum swings.
The lower part of the pendulum is enclosed in a wooden box, and on the surface of the base of that box (underneath the point of the pendulum) are a sequence of round impact dents. Each dent occurred when the single strip of steel from which the pendulum is suspended broke, due to the back and forth motion shown in this video.
In the video below you can see the impact marks from the spring breaking.
And here is the mechanism which drives the main clock, regulated by the pendulum.
Whilst the tower was being constructed, wooden scaffolding was embedded in the walls to enable the workers to work outside on the walls. The holes made for the scaffolding can be seen in the photo below.
During our visit, it was discovered that the chiming mechanism had got stuck and had not been working for a week. Nobody in the village had noticed, or if they had, they’d kept it to themselves. Joe fiddled with the mechanism under Eddie’s guidance and below you can see the chiming mechanism working in full.
Above the clock mechanism is the bell chamber, which has a claustrophobic platform right beneath the bells. In the middle is a ladder which I reached by crawling past the various wires, and which takes you above the bells to the very top of the tower.
There are, at present, over 5,200 churches in England with rings of five or more bells and there are over 3,000 bells cast in medieval times that are still rung. Church bells have been ringing in England since the 7th century but change ringing (ringing to numerical patterns) was not introduced until the middle of the 17th century. Change ringing is an art (or exercise) unknown outside the Anglican Communion, where it is principally confined to England and Wales.
Bells are rung to summon the faithful to worship; to celebrate weddings and festivals and to mark days of national thanksgiving as well as to mark a soul’s passing.
There are six bells in the tower of All Saints’ and the following information about them is described in the church inventory:-
- Tenor – diameter 38.75” / weight 10cwt (half a ton!) – (Ab) – Founder: ‘TP’ (probably Thomas Purdue) 1629. Bell inscribed: “W.E. Bryant & William Berryman wardens”. This is the bell that is connected to the clock and chimes on the hour.
- No. 5 – diameter 35.5” / weight 8cwt – (Bb) – Founder: John Taylor, Loughborough 1606 Recast 1894. E.P. Stanley – Rector. M. Hole & T. Knight – Wardens
- No. 4 – diameter 30.25” / weight 6¼ cwt – (C) – Founder: John Warner & Sons, London 1876.
- No. 3 – diameter 30.375” / weight 5½ cwt – (D) – Founder: Thomas Wroth 1710. Walter Covert & Thomas Gilham – Wardens. Rad Coombes Rector 1689-1720
- No. 2 – diameter 29.75” / weight 5 cwt – (Eb) – Founder: Thomas Wroth 1710. Thomas Ridler – Robert Covert – Walter Court & Thomas Gilham – Wardens
- No. 1 (Treble) – diameter 28” / weight 4¾” cwt – (F) – Founder: John Taylor & Co, Loughborough 1903. Tom Burnell Donor. E.P. Stanley – Rector. G. Burnell & T. Knight – Wardens
The inventory also contains the following information about the bell’s frame:
“The frame almost certainly dates from the time the tower was heightened and is appallingly badly designed and laid out.” (So watch your heads!). The bells are hung from elm headstocks fitted with plate gudgeons.
Have a look at the plaques in the bell tower that commemorate the many special peals that were rung by the doughty ringers of Wootton Courtenay. The name of Walter Copp appears several times on these plaques as he rang the tenor bell here for over fifty years. The largest bell (the tenor) was removed for repair some years ago.
The pinnacle is above the bells, which fortunately didn’t ring whilst I was there.
Hopefully this gives many people the opportunity to understand what goes on inside the bell tower. It was clear to me that the knowledge gained by Eddie in maintaining the clock for so many years is extremely valuable, and Joe is continuing the long-held tradition in his new role.
Eddie passed on this pearl of wisdom: “The clock was constructed by the clock company Sir John Bennett, Whitechapel, London, and installed in 1876. It’s out of guarantee!”
Bill Hodgson, November 2022
Wootton Courtenay 