Bedham, St Michael & All Angels
Bell |
Weight |
Diameter |
Nominal |
Note |
Founder |
Cast |
Canon |
Hanging |
1 |
c1880? |
Swing Chime |
About the Bell
1 Bell
Not overly too much can be said about this bell due to the fact this church has been abandoned and no recordings have been taken of it. However, since it is a church which had a bell I felt it was appropriate to add it to my directory.
Bedham is a ruined church that is situated within a forest North of Fittleworth and has been abandoned since 1959. The last wedding was held here in that year and was probably the last time the bell was rung. The old English composer Edward Elgar's wife Alice reported hearing the bell rung in 1919 for the signing of the peace treaty.
The bell was hung in an North West facing A frame on the cast iron bearings.
From looking at old photos of the church, we can guess that the bell has conventional canons and probably on a wooden headstock. The bell was obviously chimed from the ground floor and would have been rung by the entrance of the church.
The church known as the mission church was divided into two sections by a curtain which was drawn. One half was a school and the other was a church. The side of the church nearest to the bell is where children would have learnt and possibly taught about religion using the windows, that's if there were any stained glass windows to begin with... and the other half of the church was used for adults and seniors for religious reasons. The church had rows of desks which were turned round for use in the school and the church. All that remains left is a church ruin, the remains of an old fire place on the East wall, a bell frame with the cast iron brackets present and also part of the windows. As shown, there is no roof at all.
The bell probably weighed about just under 2 cwt.
There are no inscription records of this bell or sound recordings but it was probably around note A.
Below shows a Large image of what the church used to look like plus some smaller photos below showing the unfortunate state that it is in.
Not overly too much can be said about this bell due to the fact this church has been abandoned and no recordings have been taken of it. However, since it is a church which had a bell I felt it was appropriate to add it to my directory.
Bedham is a ruined church that is situated within a forest North of Fittleworth and has been abandoned since 1959. The last wedding was held here in that year and was probably the last time the bell was rung. The old English composer Edward Elgar's wife Alice reported hearing the bell rung in 1919 for the signing of the peace treaty.
The bell was hung in an North West facing A frame on the cast iron bearings.
From looking at old photos of the church, we can guess that the bell has conventional canons and probably on a wooden headstock. The bell was obviously chimed from the ground floor and would have been rung by the entrance of the church.
The church known as the mission church was divided into two sections by a curtain which was drawn. One half was a school and the other was a church. The side of the church nearest to the bell is where children would have learnt and possibly taught about religion using the windows, that's if there were any stained glass windows to begin with... and the other half of the church was used for adults and seniors for religious reasons. The church had rows of desks which were turned round for use in the school and the church. All that remains left is a church ruin, the remains of an old fire place on the East wall, a bell frame with the cast iron brackets present and also part of the windows. As shown, there is no roof at all.
The bell probably weighed about just under 2 cwt.
There are no inscription records of this bell or sound recordings but it was probably around note A.
Below shows a Large image of what the church used to look like plus some smaller photos below showing the unfortunate state that it is in.
Photographs:
Photo credit to: Bedham – Fittleworth Community & Parish Council (fittleworth-pc.org.uk)
References:
About the bell: fittleworth-pc.org.uk
About the bell: fittleworth-pc.org.uk
