allesleybells

Allesley were an anticlockwise ring of 5 with a tenor of around 8cwt in an old wooden frame until 1901. The parish wished to have a heavier ring of 6 bells so they had installed a new metal, clockwise, frame for 6 bells, recast the old third and added a tenor of exactly 12 cwt. This work was carried out by Taylors of Loughborough

Today this scheme would not be allowed to proceed in this way as the recast bell was about 440 years old in 1901. A new bell would be cast and the old one retained, either on display in the church or perhaps as a clock or service bell.

The band became one of the stronger in what was then called the Warwickshire Guild and this enabled the band to contemplate a further augmentation. In March 1947 the bells were augmented to 8 by adding two trebles cast in October 1946. The existing two trebles were moved into a rider frame added above the existing 6-bell frame and the new bells put into the now vacant pits. The "old" bells were also put onto ball bearings, again Taylors doing the work

(The Guild was renamed "The Coventry Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers" in 1945 - a mere 27 years after St. Michael's Church was created a Cathedral and the Diocese formed. The minutes of the meeting to change the name are well worth a read!).

The ringing room was dominated by a clock case and, as the clock had stopped working it rather conveniently could be taken out to leave a much better rope circle than would have been achievable otherwise!

The clock face itself was removed to storage in the old vicarage stables in the 1960s and it was only when it was re-gilded and replaced and a new electric mechanism added in the mid-1990s did the ringers find out about the minor omission of obtaining a faculty for its removal!

The bells have been fairly popular for peals and have had more rung on them for the Coventry Guild than any other so far, more than 200. Decent sound control and sensible amount and spacing out of peals have meant that the only complaints normally received are that someone cannot hear the bells properly in their house! For a list of the peals rung so far, click this button

Visiting ringers are more than welcome - the door is an outside entrance on the South side of the tower and is not locked except during quarters and peals.
Email Mike Chester to confirm ringing will take place on a given date- it most often will!

Ringing Times

Sunday Morning	9.30 - 10.00am	(A ¼ peal is attempted each last Sunday)
Sunday Evening	5.30 - 6.00pm
Tuesday	7.30 - 9.00pm

To find out more - follow these links