Bodle Street Green, St John the Evangelist

Between 1838 and 1853, Bodle Street Green had a Chapel of Ease for Warbleton, though very little is known about it. In 1853, a new church was built by the architect Major R. Hawkins, which was completed the following year. It originally had a small 9.A frame above the joint between the nave and chancel, but this was destroyed, along with most of the church, in 1921. The chancel was the only part that could be reused, so the architect Walter E. Tower designed a new church with a very simple timber tower structure on the south side.

The Bell

Bell	Weight	Diameter	Hum	Note	Founder	Cast	Canon	Hanging
1		16.25"			Charles & George Mears	1853	Peg	Swing

Recording of the Bell

Inscriptions

Photographs

1 Bell
Charles & George Mears, founders of Whitechapel, supplied a single bell to the new church in 1853. It was cast with a peg canon and a very basic inscription. It was originally hung for swing chiming and chimed by a lever in the former bellcote.
Fortunately, the bell survived the fire of 1921 and was reused. It continues to be hung for swing chiming using a specialised headstock with an extended gudgeon pin, to which the lever is connected. An early photograph taken inside the church shows the old rope hanging down across the chancel arch.
Visited: 10/04/2026.

Bodle Street Green Church pre-1921 (England's Place photo archive)