Moseley, St Anne (6)

St Anne, Park Hill
Bells: 6
Weight: 7-0-5 in Bb

Tower Contact
Trish Everett
07968 362501
0121 449 1088
Email the Tower Contact

Ringing
Practice: Tuesday 19:00-20:15
Service: Sunday 10:30-11:00

What is rung?
Plain Bob, Grandsire, Stedman, Cambridge

Additional Information
Toilet: No
Parking: On street

External websites
Peals rung on the bells (Felstead)
Dove’s Guide
Church Bells of Warwickshire – Moseley St Anne


History of the bells

St Anne’s was built in 1874 at the sole expense of Miss Rebecca Anderton of Wake Green, Moseley, at a cost of around £7000. It stands on a hilltop site and its spire is visible from all around. The church was designed by Frederick Preedy, architect, and Collins of Tewkesbury was the builder. Work began in September 1873. The church was consecrated on 22 September 1874 and a parish was assigned from Moseley in February 1875. The building was extended in 1897 and 1922. It suffered severe wartime damage when a bomb fell on the church on 3 December 1940, and in 1946 the roof collapsed. The church was rededicated in 1948 after its post-war restoration.

The tower and spire stand at the north west corner of the nave. Shortly after the church was completed, three old bells from St Mary’s and one new bell were hung in the tower. This was reported in the ‘Worcester Diocesan Church Calendar’ for 1876, which stated in its report of work completed in 1874-1875 that:

The old bells of St Mary’s, Moseley (3), have been hung in the tower of this church, and a fourth bell (tenor) added; all at the cost of Miss Anderton. The bells are chimed by an “Ellacombe” apparatus, the gift of F. Elkington, Esq., Moseley Hall.

A church inventory dated 30 June 1884 states “There are 4 bells but the frame is prepared for a 5th”, also noting that “a new frame prepared for five bells” was erected at the expense of Miss Anderton.

Until their restoration in 2000 the bells remained as first installed in 1874-1875. They were hung in a wooden frame with derelict ringing fittings. The frame (Bellframes type 6.A) was evidently supplied new by James Barwell in 1874-1875, but some of the fittings – certainly the stocks of the two smaller bells and three of the wheels – came with the bells from St Mary’s. They were fitted with wooden stocks, strap or drive-in gudgeons, stock hoops (those on bells 3 and 4 being fitted with tightening screws), bearing brasses, wheels, stays and sliders, and an Ellacombe chiming apparatus. All four bells had canons and none had been turned.

As early as 1875 deficiencies in the older bells were noted in a report, and in 1882 James Barwell submitted quotations for re-casting the ancient bells, replacing the old fittings and providing a new tenor bell, all at a cost of £107. However, no action was taken and the bells remained in the same state as when they were first transferred to the church.

In 2000 the bells were retuned, rehung with new chiming fittings and augmented to five in 2000 by the addition of a redundant bell (from Bagworth, Leicestershire, and cast by George Oldfield I in 1665) as tenor. These became a swing-chime of five bells in the key of B flat (953Hz). At this stage the bells were hung in the wooden frame of 1874 with all new fittings by Hayward Mills Associates, including steel headstocks, ball bearings and iron chiming levers. The bells could also be sounded from a computer-controlled unit operating solenoid chiming hammers on the bells. The bells were rededicated on 3 December 2000.

The hope was, however, that the bells might later become a ringing peal, and this was realised in 2008 when the bells were again rehung, augmented to six and remodelled. Early in 2004 the church was offered a redundant Warner bell from All Saints, Grimsby, by the Keltek Trust on the condition that the chime would be converted for full-circle ringing. This bell became the new treble. In addition, a new bell was cast to replace the Oldfield bell which has become the service bell. Again carried out by Hayward Mills Associates, the work was completed in July 2008.

The tower now contains a ring of six bells in the key of B flat (954.5Hz or B flat plus 40.69 cents):

Bell Inscription

1. J WARNER & SONS LONDON 1904.

2. (Brasyer shield) GOD (acorn border) SAVE (acorn border) THE (acorn border) KING (acorn border) 1638 (acorn border) / (arabesque border)

Soundbow: (three coins)

3. + IESVS (vine border) BEE (border) OVR (border) GOOD (border) SPEED (border) 1650 (border) (John Martin’s large heart mark)

4. SAMUEL SMITH IUNIER * CHURCH WARDEN * 1740 (ornament) WM BROOKE CAST ME (Arabesque border)

5. JAMES BARWELL FOUNDER. BIRMINGHAM 1874.

6. HAYWARD MILLS [space] NOTTINGHAM 2008

Waist: TO THE MEMORY OF ALFRED RICHARD AND MARGARET MAY / WORTHINGTON OF STEVENAGE HERTFORDSHIRE / DONATED BY THEIR SON MICHAEL AND HIS WIFE TESSA WHO MARRIED IN / THIS CHURCH ON 27TH FEBRUARY 1982

Opposite: ROYAL EIJSBOUTS

Bell Founder and date Diameter Mouldings Nominal Cwt. Qrs. Lbs.
1.John Warner & Sons 1904 21? 2:2-2:3:2 1606.5 1 3 7
2.Hugh Watts II, 1638 22 2:2-2:3:1 1425 2 0 25
3.John Martin, 1650 24? 0:2-2:3:2 1271.5 2 3 6
4.William Brooke, 1740 26¾ 2:2-2:3:2 1200.5 3 1 16
5.James Barwell, 1874 30? 2:2-2:3:2 1072.5 4 3 26
6.Hayward Mills (Eijsbouts) 2008 32¾ 2:2-2:3:2 954.5 7 0 5


All the old Moseley bells (i.e. 2-5) have canons and they have now been eighth turned. The canons of the Warner bell have been removed and the new tenor was cast with a flat top. The treble is a maiden bell. The second has not been retuned, but it was heavily edged or skirted long ago and the lower moulding wire has been removed in the process. The third has been chip tuned and retuned. The fourth has been retuned in the crown and also skirted at the lip. The fifth has also been retuned in the soundbow and in the crown.

The Barwell five-bell frame has been extended with the addition of an extra pit on the north side for the new tenor. This pit is of traditional timber construction. The old frame has long pits on the east and west sides, now containing the treble (and service bell) and fourth respectively, with parallel transverse pits between them for bells 2, 3 and 5. The bells are hung with new ringing fittings supplied by Hayward Mills Associates in 2008, including cast iron stocks, ball bearings, wheels, traditional stays and sliders and clappers suspended from independent staples. The stocks of bells 2-5 are of canon-retaining type. These bells are also fitted with solenoid chiming hammers.

The service bell is hung dead from a wooden stock bolted to the frame at the south end of the pit of the treble bell. It retains its canons and it also has a resin pad on the crown from when it was rehung for swing-chiming in 2000. It is used instead of the new tenor when the bells are chimed. It has a solenoid chiming hammer but it is not fitted with an internal clapper.

Bell Inscription

Service IHS (vine border) NAZARENVS (border) REX (border) IVDEORVM (border) 1665 (George Oldfield’s mark)

Bell Founder and date Diameter Mouldings Nominal Cwt. Qrs. Lbs.
ServiceGeorge Oldfield, 1665 30 2:2-2:3:1 950 4 0 16


There is no clock.

Visited: Christopher J Pickford 28 December 1977, and Christopher J Pickford and Heather Pickford 14 August 2008; Thanks to Jayne Beauchamp.