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WHITBY ~ St
Mary ~ 10 bells (GF) ~ 19-0-11
(actually belongs to Cleveland and North Yorkshire Branch but lies within the
Borough of Scarborough)
Sunday Ringing: 1000
Practice: Thursday 1900
Contact:
1
2
3
1. At the top of the 199
steps - at last!
2. St Mary's and the Abbey from
the West Cliff
3. Interior showing ornate
pulpit and box pews (and the famous stove)
A Brief
History of the Bells of the Parish Church of St Mary, Whitby, In The Diocese Of
York
The
venerable Bede gave the fist-recorded account of church bells in England, when
he wrote of the death of St Hilda, Abbess of Streoneshalh, (The Saxon name for
Whitby) at the original Abbey in 680 AD.
He wrote,
“That same night, Almighty God made the death of St Hilda known, by way of a
vision, to the sister convent at Hackness, thirteen miles from Streoneshalh. In
that place lived a holy woman named BEGU, a nun of over thirty years’ devotion.
She was suddenly awakened from her rest by the familiar sound of the bell, which
tolled for the death of one of their number. Opening her eyes she saw, or
thought she saw, the roof open and a great shaft of light pour into the room. As
she gazed she saw the soul of the Lady Hilda being borne up to Heaven.”
Significant events in the History of the Bells of Whitby
680 AD
Death of Hilda and Bede's record of the Bell
1539 Dissolution of the Abbey and the loss of the bells
1590 Revd. Robert Toes bought a new bell of 12cwt
1626 The town’s people bought a second bell of 8cwt
1637 A third bell of 1 ton was added
1708 A fourth bell was added. Its weight is unknown.
1762 Three of the bells were found to be so badly
cracked that the full set of four was sent to the foundry of Messrs. Lester and
Pack of London, and in their place a set of six bells was obtained. The beam
from the old bell frame mounted on the west wall of the ringing room
commemorates the hanging and first ringing of the new bells by a team of ringers
from Market Rasen in Lincolnshire.
1897 Two new bells were added, one to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, and
one as a gift from a local Justice of the Peace.
1898 The Tower clock was added.
1906 The original wooden frame, (See 1762 above) was replaced with an iron one.
1911 Two further bells were bought from Messrs. Mears and Stainbank, bringing
the number up to the present ten.
1950 The bells were taken to John Taylor and Co of Loughborough and recast, with
the help of a gift from Alice and Percy Shaw Jeffrey of Bagdale Hall in Whitby.
During this recasting, the tenor, the tenth and heaviest bell, was reduced in
weight from 1 ton to about 19.5 cwt. The photographs on the staircase wall
record their return.
1975 The 100th peal, (ringing over 5040 changes in sequence) was
recorded.
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