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| From Churches |
OS: SP081638
Studley, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Parish Church of Studley is situated in a quiet Cul de Sac quite a way from the main part of the village on the east side of the River Arrow in the direction of Studley Castle. The ringing room is a nice large room at the top of a narrow stone spiral staircase with plenty of space for ringing the 8 bells.
I visited for the first time on Thursday 29th March 2007 and was made very welcome. There is a talented bunch of ringers that work in this tower and they did some very nice ringing on 6 bells with a variation of Plain Bob Minor I had not come across before where they designate different bells to act as the treble. I rang several bells, up on bell #7, down on bell #2, rounds on #6 and plain bob doubles on #3. The bells were easy to work with and sounded rather nice.
The Bells
The tower has a ring of 8 bells with a tenor weighing 11-1-9 in G. They consist of an original set of five bells that were cast by Matthew Bagley in 1688 at Evesham. In 1958 a treble was added and the original bells retuned and all rehung by John Taylor & Co. (Loughborough). For the millenium two more bells were cast in 1998 by the John Taylor & Co. Foundry, installed by Arthur Berry during 1999 and rung for the first time at midnight on 1st January 2000 to commemorate the new Millennium.
Dove's Guide includes details of the bells at the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Although Studley is in Warwickshire, more information is provided by the Worcestershire & Districts Change Ringing Association.
| Bell | Note | Diameter | Weight ? | Inscription |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | G | 25" | 4-0-07 | Bellringers and Parishioners Millennium Bell |
| 2 | F♯ | 26" | 4-1-11 | To God be the Glory |
| 3 | E | 27" | 4-0-29(?) | Subscribed for by Parishioners |
| 4 | D | 32¼" | 5-1-22 | Joseph Potter, Minister |
| 5 | C | 31½" | 5-3-11 | Matthew Bagley made mee |
| 6 | B | 33" | 6-2-10 | Edward Benton and Thomas Smith, CW |
| 7 | A | 35¾" | 8-0-2 | Charles Russell and William Parr, CW Thomas Perkins, George Robins, Collector |
| Tenor | G | 39¾" | 11-1-9 | Feare God and Honor the King (5 coins cast around the lip of the bell) |
