The Unringable 3 Bells of Fugglestone St Peter, Wilts

Fugglestone St Peter in Wiltshire was once a very small village in its own right but has since been swallowed up by the considerably larger settlement of Wilton (which itself posseses a superb 8cwt 6 in a splendid Italienesque church!) The small, ancient little church at Fugglestone, at the South end of Wilton on the road to Salisbury, still survives and is a fascinating little building, seeped in history, with box pews and many ornate memorials, and is the last gas-lit church in Britain!
Take a look at the turret and wonder how they managed to fit a ring of 3 in.... Well somehow they did, and quite spectacularly as well!! The frame is an ingenious 2-tier wooden structure, with the treble on the top. Quite how the bell hangers of the time installed the three bells and their frame up there and with no obvious trapdoor or opening is almost beyond belief but they did! The front 2 were cast in 1628 by local founder John Dawton; however, details of the tenor are scant - it is inscribed with "T Lander, Wilton, 1839." T Lander was a local builders' merchant and it is likely that the bell was supplied to him by Jefferies and Price of Bristol.
The bells are devoid of stays and sliders, and there were no pulleys to be seen either, and the tuning is that of the front 3 of a ring of 5. The rope holes, especially those for the tenor, are also too small to accommodate the sallies! The ropes for the two trebles also fall 2 inches apart - perhaps you can make out in the darkness the small wooden guide for the treble rope (it appears at about 1:57.) The amount of dust, rubble and birds droppings in the tower was pretty spectacular as well, and note how the bells are accessed - through a small wooden screen via a ladder!
All in all, a most fascinating visit but not one for the faint hearted! Unfortunately it was too dark upstairs to really pick out on camera very much of what was upstairs in terms of bells, inscriptions, and fittings, etc, but hopefully will nevertheless give a good indicator of what is up that tower - a small 3, unringable and derelict, in an intriguing wooden frame with mainly original fittings. :-)
Tenor ~3cwt in E
dove.cccbr.org....
This video features 5 intrepid KZbinrs, four of whom are regular uploaders: Simon Edwards (simonbellringer,) Aaron Moulder (anonmonen,) Nick Bowden (nwbowden,) Jack Pease (bellminsterboy,) & Alex Hosking (hoskingalex)

[@susanhague4719]

Wonderful!. They sound rather like our swing change chiming bells, at St Andrews, Cambridge NZ. Our set of six steel bells were originally hung for pealing but No.3 was discordant and the set caused damage to the wooden bell tower and church so were replaced and hung so they couldn't be rung up anymore. This set appears to be hung in cramped conditions as well, further discouraging the possibility of ringing up.

[@bellringer22]

There nice sounding bells

[@yuliannoldor6627]

fascinating :)

[@engelbertschoormans]

The tenor seems to have interesting partials... Is that the older bell?

[@simonbellringer]

Ironically the tenor is the newest bell, dating from 1839!! It was cast at a different time to the other 2 which may explain why it doesn't fit in as well...

[@engelbertschoormans]

And the other ones?

[@simonbellringer]

Leander Schoormans 1628 by local founder John Dawton... Says so in the description!

[@engelbertschoormans]

Yeah, I didn't really understand the description at all, sorry... My English isn't so fluently.

[@bellringer22]

​@@simonbellringerwhich picture of the bells is the tenor in

[@moncky2000]

So why are they unringable when you're ringing them?

[@simonbellringer]

By "unringable" I mean that you cannot swing them full circle as is the usual manner of ringing. We were able to chime them and make them sound, but not ring them in the usual way as it is unsafe to.

[@moncky2000]

Oh ok

[@jasonburnet9181]

simonbellringer the frame has to move over 4-5" for the bells to be declared unringable. Also the tower has to move a large distance, 6" i think. ;)

[@simonbellringer]

Ringer Jason While I don't doubt the integrity of that argument, there is more to frame movement whereby a ring of bells could be declared "unringable". Woodwork in frame for instance. Old fittings unsafe and unsuitable for purpose. Bells not looked after and thereby unsafe. Unsafe tower, unsuitable for change ringing bells because of size or structure weakness. Even if we had wanted to there would have been no way we could have got these up! They physically were not up to it!!

[@jasonburnet9181]

Have you seen my new video? =)

[@vintagesimplexfirealarmsof6440]

What would happen if you ring all 3 at once

[@RingerLuca651]

3:35

[@bellringer22]

3:37 they rung all three