THE YORKSHIRE ASSOCIATION OF CHANGE RINGERS

SCARBOROUGH AND DISTRICT BRANCH

FILEY ~ St Oswald ~ 6 bells ~ 4-2-0

Sunday Ringing: 1000 & 1715 (Summer) 1415 (Winter)

Practice: Thursday 1900

Contact: John Siddle (Ringing Master) 01723 516043

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1. From the south east

2. Honorary Tower Captain, Bob Hall, in 'unusual' pose and surroundings!

3. How to find us

St Oswald’s Church was built in the late 12^th century (around 1180), almost certainly by monks from Bridlington Priory, with massive clustered pillars and walls at least 4ft thick.

It is in the shape of a cross with the tower at the centre, which is topped by a weathervane in the shape of a gold-leafed fish, an ancient symbol for Christ.

Inside the central tower is the original stone medieval staircase going the whole height of the tower. This is accessible on the northern side of the nave. Both the ringing chamber and the bell chamber are very large (about 20 feet square), the bells being mounted in a massive 17^th century wooden ‘A’ frame.

In the early 1970’s, Mr James Parker, Tower Captain of Bridlington Priory, asked for an inspection and report on the condition of the frame and the four bells.

The bells were:

Treble ~ 33ins ~ 7cwt ~ Taylors, 1929
2^nd ~ 37ins ~ 9½ cwt ~ 1675
Tenor ~ 44½ins ~ 14¾cwt ~ 1682
Odd ~ 40ins ~ 10½cwt ~ 1700

As a result, an appeal was launched in 1977 to provide new bells (and also for ringers!) and in 1981, the current light six were cast by Whitechapel and mounted in the three large pits of the frame, along with the two ancient bells of 1675 (service bell) and 1682 (clock). The other two bells were sold to Whitechapel to offset costs.

Treble ~ 1-1-16 (B) ~ Beverley and District Society
2 ~ 1-3-22 (A) ~ James Parker (In Memory)
3 ~ 2-1-12 (G) ~ Filey Town Council
4 ~ 2-2-04 (F#) ~ Barron Bell Trust
5 ~ 3-2-00 (E) ~ R.H. Bowness
Tenor ~ 4-7-08 (D) ~ T. Corbett

The cost was around £7000, but the undertaking would not have been possible without much voluntary labour. Also at this time, the Parochial Church Council arranged for restoration and strengthening work to be carried out on the tower.

The above is an edited extract from the leaflet ‘Filey Bells’, originally published June, 1981, and available in church.

The bells were dedicated by the Bishop of Hull on 21June 1981 when the first Quarter Peal (1260 PB Minor) was rung by:

1. H Parker, 2. E P King, 3. Rev G Galley, 4. A Grundy, 5. J Arthur, 6. D Potter (C)