[intuitu?]1 divino ex assensu et consensu [blank] hanc canteream [sic] fabricaverunt et fundaverunt imperpetuum quorum animabus Deus [propicietur]. North side wyndow.2 Orate pro anima domini Willielmi Norres Vicarii ecclesie parochialis de [blank]3 qui hanc fenestram principaliter fieri fecit, et obiit in festo Sancte Elene, anno Domini MCCCC sexagessimo [blank] ac etiam pro statu et anima Ricardi fratris ejus, quorum animabus propicietur Deus. (f) The Bells. The bells of Childwall, ringing out from the hill over the countryside, have for centuries formed a local feature which found its way into rhyme. There are many variants, but the best known is probably as follows: Prescot & Huyton and merry Childow, Another version of the third line is: Prescot for Panmugs, Huyton for ploydes, rhyming, presumably, with "besoydes." There are probably few parishes in which records, of an exact nature, relating to the church bells can be carried back for nearly 400 years, but this can be done as regards Childwall. From the Norris papers, now in the British Museum, we obtain the information that, in 1517, three new bells were made for Childwall church by Richard Seliock of Notting 1 Only a "t" of this word is legible. Mr. Brownbill suggests "nutu" or "intuitu." 2 This inscription is not given in the Harl. version. The place cannot be supplied. 4 See Pal. Note Book, ii. 239, 278; iii. 95, 122. 5 Quoted in Vict. Hist., vol. iii. 107, note 18. It is No. 973 of Dr. Farrer's transcripts from the Aston Hall charters and papers. ham, bellfounder, viz. the great bell, weight 518 lbs.; the lesser bell, 417 lbs.; and Mr. Norris's bell, 41 lbs. But it appears from the inventory of the church goods for which the wardens (Wm. Whitfield and James Plumbe) undertook to be responsible in 1552,1 that there were then only two bells, one bell being wanting which had been sold to John Plummer of Chester, and the money bestowed, so the wardens said, in the repair of the church. Edward Norres of Blackrod, in his will dated 29th Jan. 1577, left 5s. towards the reparation of Childwall church, and a similar sum to the clerk to ring the bells after his death. The "great" bell is mentioned in the wardens' accounts in 1572 when John Roson came to see about the repairs to the bells, and in 1589 the "third" bell and the "little" bell occur. About 1593, the wardens spent two days and two nights at the church with the bellfounders, consuming a pound of candles. Some of the bell "mettell" was broken, and the repairs cost £3, 12s. 4d. In 1597 the wardens went to the famous foundry at Congleton about the re-casting of a bell which, with some new metal, cost £5, 25. 4d., besides carriage from Congleton. Henry Whitfield, of Little Woolton, deceased, gave 6s. 8d. in 1598 for the repair and mending of the bells. In 1603, one shilling was spent upon the bellfounders and the wardens when making an agreement to re-cast the third bell, and another shilling paid in earnest-money of the bargain. A special ley of £6, 5s. was made and the bell was taken to Congleton and re-cast. For this work and for I cwt. I qr. 2 lbs. of new metal, £10, 25. 8d. was disbursed, whilst two bonds were entered into, one for "the upholding" of the bell for a year and a day, and the other for 20s. to be paid to the founder at Runcorn, on the last day of 1 Church Goods (Chet. Soc.), 90. April 1604. May Day was spent in getting the bell up into the steeple. In Nov. 1617 another special ley for the repair of the bells became necessary, £4, 35. being spent upon them. In 1635 a meeting of the parishioners ordered that "he that keepeth the clock and ringeth curfewe shall have xiid per annum for his paynes; and also the ringers vis viiid per annum to ring every Sonday in this manner following, to witt, the sexten one peale att seaven of the clock, the clark and sexten another peale att eight of the clock, and the clark, sexten, and the other ringers another peale att nyne of the clock." A bell-wheel was purchased in 1639 for ten shillings from the chapel-warden of Liverpool, but nothing else of importance occurs until 1660-1661. The ringers had rung the bells on the restoration day of Charles II, and all day on the anniversary of his coronation, and the vigour of their rejoicings was apparently too much for the first bell, which burst, necessitating a visit of the vicar to Liverpool to bargain with the bellfounder. Three shillings and three pence was spent when Edward Markland of Wigan,' and another came to Childwall and "we did consummate the bargaine with them about the bell and it was knoct in peeces.' More trouble followed, as when Mr. Litherland (the vicar) and one of the wardens went to Wigan to see the bell re-cast "the mettall did run upon the workmen." Another visit was necessary "to see the bell broke out of the mould" and weighed. Markland was paid £7, 1s. 5d. for the casting and over-weight, and gave a bond for security of the bell. Something however went wrong, as Is. 4d. was spent upon the Huyton ringers when they came "to try if they could mend the first bell in its ringing." 1 Mr. Earwaker seems to have thought he was not a bellfounder. See his paper on "Lancashire and Cheshire Bellfounders," Trans. Hist. Soc., vol. xlii. p. 177. From the accounts for 1677 we gather the fee of the clerk for tending the clock, and ringing curfew and the great bell every Sabbath at 8 A.M. and I P.M., was now 15s. Items for "sallit oyle for the clock often occur. In 1680 the wardens go to Liverpool to see the bellfounder about recasting two of the bells. Two attendances at Childwall are entered to seal the bonds and articles of agreement with William Scott; also a visit to Wigan to see the bells cast and weighed. When the newly cast bells had been drawn up into the steeple, the Huyton ringers were, as usual, called in to test them, but the peal was not found satisfactory, so a "musition" from Liverpool was procured for 2s. to give his judgment and censure of the bells. Upon him, the founder, the ringers, and others, 5s. was spent on the day of the trial. Apparently the little bell was out of tune, as it had to be taken down. It was re-hung twice and rung, but not approved, and the wardens go to Mr. Chorley (a lawyer) "to put on suit" against William Scott. The proceedings were however not gone on with, as from the accounts for 1681 we see Scott came a third time and the bell was then approved of. For the two re-cast bells and for extra metal Scott received £20. In December 1694, the clerk tolled the bell for three hours the day Queen Mary was interred, and received Is.; and 7s. 6d. was paid in 1714 for ringing the day the news came King George had arrived in England, and 22s. 6d. was spent on a great number of parishioners the day he was crowned. The bells were often rung as usual for victories by land and sea. In 1721 and 1722, the question of the bells came before several vestries. John Plumbe and John Fletcher were asked to assist the parishioners to obtain estimates for re-casting the first bell (now broken) and making it into the fourth bell, and for re-casting all the bells "for the making of them more tuneable," with the addition of a fifth bell. At a vestry on 17th January 1721-2, a letter from Abraham Rudhall (of Gloucester) was read several times, and it was unanimously agreed to have all the old bells re-cast, to make up the metal to 3100 lbs. weight, and add a fifth bell; but the proposed weight not being thought sufficient, it was increased to be as near 4000 lbs. weight (= 1 ton 15 cwts. 2 qrs. 24 lbs.) as the bellfounder could contrive to cast the bells. The wardens go to Farnworth to inquire what their new bells had cost. In Childwall twenty leys were levied originally but eighteen more had to be made, and as some of the parish "made a scruple" to pay, the wardens took authority to have recourse to the law. The old bells were taken down and weighed in 1722, and sent off to Rudhall's works, and the new set appears to have been hung the same year. The bellfounder received £155, Mr. Wrigley, the hanger, £20 odd, and the carriage of the bells by Robert Jackson led to a dispute and a verdict in his favour for 28s., in the wapentake court of West Derby, which was set aside at the assizes. Ultimately the wardens paid him the money with the addition of £8, 10s. costs. On a board which now hangs on the west wall near the porch, but which, in 1836,1 was by the churchwardens' pew, there is the following statement which refers to the new bells: "At the request of the Inhabitants of Childwall Parish ye Lady Dowager Gerard, of Garswood, gave ten guineas, part thereof for erecting this seat for ye use of the churchwardens, and ye surplus towards erecting five new bells hung in ye steeple of this church in the year of our Lord 1722. William Wood, William Lake, churchwardens." 1 Baines' Lancs. (first ed.), iii. 741. |