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Home > Bellringers > History of the Bells
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History of the Bells of Hoo St Werburgh
The History of the Bells of Hoo St. Werburgh evolved from two sheets of paper, giving
details of the bells and fittings, that were displayed in the Church on a 'Thermometer'.
The 'Thermometer' was placed in the Church in 1988 to help raise money for the restoration
and rehanging of the bells and as an indication of the progress being made. As more
information was collected together, the two sheets of paper were altered and amended
many times until they were not big enough to tell the story. The first edition of
the History of the Bells of Hoo St. Werburgh was compiled and sold to raise funds.
This extract is taken from the second, as yet unpublished History of the Bells.
We know very little about the early history of the bells and fittings in our Church,
but what is known, plus a few speculative suggestions are written below. If any
reader has any knowledge of the bells or any thoughts that are not listed, then
we would be very interested to hear them. Please feel free to
contact us
regarding any point.
The old six bells are all of different dates and cast by different founders, which
is almost a unique characteristic in itself, and it is probable that they came to
Hoo one at a time. This may not necessarily be the case however, as the bells could
have been bought from several different sources and erected together in this tower
as a ring of four or five, although this seems to be a more recent trend and, due
to difficulties with transportation, was not practised much until later this century.
However, there is evidence that during the reformation many bells were not actually
smashed, as ordered, but stored by speculative 'founders' and later sold on to many
different locations throughout the country. This is one reason why some churches
have old bells that appear to have been transported many miles from their founding
place.
Rather than present the data about the bells in their numerical order, we have used
chronological order.
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