The Bells of St. Sampsons, Cricklade
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The bells are a good, basically Rudhall, six, rehung and retuned by Taylors in 1937 and augmented in 1979. However, they have a 65-foot draught and a massive, anticlockwise circle with the choir pews in the middle. They may not be suitable for the inexperienced!
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| Bell | Cwt-qtr-lb | Note | Founder |
| Tenor | 12-0-27 | F# | Warner, London 1887 |
| 5 | 9-1-4 | G# | Taylors, Loughborough 1937 |
| 4 | 7-1-16 | A# | Rudhall, Gloucester 1703 |
| 3 | 6-2-3 | B | Rudhall, Gloucester 1703 |
| 2 | 6-0-3 | C# | Wells, Aldbourne 1803 |
| Treble | 5-0-4 | D# | Rudhall, Gloucester 1779 |
The church is off Bath Road, with parking available. There is a barrier across the road, so there are two exclusive routes in.
(A) from the High Street, turn up Bath Road: this is 20 yards left of the clock and the roundabout at the Vale pub. There is a small car park at the church.
(B) from Purton or Malmesbury. Follow the signs to the Leisure Centre. Turn right into Bath Road, go 200 yards, past the school on the left and the fire station on the right, and use the front half of the car park at Heberden House old people's home. This is free, and opposite the church.
1553 Tower built by the Hungerfords, a county family with pretensions to be connected with Warwick.
1703 Rudhall of Gloucester casts a ring of 4 bells, the tenor reputedly 15 cwt. One rope is in each corner of the massive central tower, 19 feet square internally. The bells are rung from the ground floor, and are anti-clockwise.
1803 Wells of Aldbourne, only fifteen miles away, casts a treble to make a ring of five. The rope uses the old treble hole, and the old treble is shifted a little towards the old second. There are now two ropes in one corner.
1887 Warners of London rehang the bells in a new frame, and recast the tenor.
1931 The fourth is cracked, and there are local attempts to weld a hoop around the bell by setting up a brazier in the belfry. The church survives.
1937 Taylors of Loughborough recast the fourth and rehang and retune all five bells with new cast iron headstocks and ball bearings in the existing frame. The canons are partially removed from the second and tenor, and canon-retaining headstocks are used on the four old bells.
1950 First full peal of 5040 changes on the bells.
1979 A treble is added to make a ring of six. This was the second of the old three at St. Mary's Cricklade, at the other end of the High Street near the Thames. St. Mary's had been made redundant and given to the RCs. The bell was cast by Rudhalls of Gloucester in 1779, and Taylors remove the canons and retune it. The bell is fitted into the five-bell frame by taking three feet off the tenor pit, moving the tenor along in its pit, and hanging the new bell across the end in the free space. This means there are now two ropes in another corner of the tower, uncomfortably close to the pews.
1996 Experiments are made with replacing the ropes above the sally with polypropylene, which proves very cheap, non stretch and instantly successful. Handling is improved with the light material compensating for the length of the draught. Unfortunately, after almost four years three of the ropes break on the pulley, where we do not expect it. The fifth rope is replaced with a terylene rope from Ellis.
1999 Metalwork repainted in French Navy Hammerite. This is remarkably attractive.
2001 All remaining polypropylene ropes are replaced with Ellis' terylene ropes, with no problems at all.
The tower is magnificent late perpendicular Tudor. It is central, with a high lantern over the chancel crossing. Thus there is no room for a ringing chamber, and ringing takes place from the chancel crossing, with a 65-foot draught. Because of the size of the tower - 19 feet square internally for a light six - there is ample room for the bells, and no need for redirection of the ropes. We thus have a dead straight drop and handling is not a problem. However, the choir pews are in the ringing circle, the bells are anticlockwise and the circle massive, with thirteen feet between the fourth and fifth ropes, so many visitors find them daunting or worse. It is essential to ring them at normal 12cwt speed, and avoid the temptation to dawdle which a long draught and large circle induce.
The rope circle is unusual, having 6-1 in one corner, then 2-3, then 4 then 5 in other corners. Here is a diagram of the frame:
So far, twelve peals have been rung on the bells ( a peal is 5040 changes, taking almost 3 hours):
| 1 | 05/08/1950 | Doubles (3 methods) |
| 2 | 26/05/1956 | Grandsire Doubles |
| 3 | 05/01/1957 | Doubles (7 methods) |
| 4 | 02/05/1959 | Doubles (51 methods) |
| 5 | 11/06/1977 | Doubles (3 methods) |
| 6 | 20/10/1984 | Plain Bob Doubles |
| 7 | 03/08/1985 | Minor (7 methods) |
| 8 | 18/10/1986 | Doubles (11 methods) |
| 9 | 01/05/1987 | Minor (7 methods) |
| 10 | 10/10/1987 | Minor (4 methods) |
| 11 | 17/10/1992 | Surprise Minor (11 methods) |
| 12 | 24/02/2003 | Surprise Minor (7 methods) |
96 Quarter-peals are also known to have been rung.
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