Researching the history of St Michael’s Church bells resonated so much with campanologist Alan Padgett, he decided to write a book.
The result is Tales from the Tower which will raise funds towards the £275,000 target for the next musical chapter of the Windhill place of worship.
He explained: “It was not my intention to write this book. I was asked if I would give some talks at the start of a project to raise funds to refurbish the bells at St Michael’s, Bishop’s Stortford.
“The idea was to raise the profile of the bellringers and make people aware of the heritage of the bells. There was a bare-bones history of the bells at that time and I decided further research was needed or the talks might be a little short.
“I soon realised there was far more. Not just facts, but stories that gave life to the subject going right back to when the church and tower were built in the early 1400s. I was lucky.
“The church had churchwardens’ accounts going back to 1431 which had been transcribed and put into a book in 1882 by local historian J L Glasscock.
“Each purchase that was made for the church was there in the accounts. By sifting through, the tales started to emerge.
“For example, when the churchwardens negotiated to buy five new bells in 1493, they organised the payment to be made over five years – the first easy payments plan?
“A short while later in 1523, they got the local blacksmith John Semper to give a six-year warranty on a new clapper he had made – the first-ever?
“It wasn’t just about the bells but about the bellringers, the churchwardens, the bellfounders, the builders. In fact, every aspect of the tower.
“Another example – during the 18th century, ringing had become very competitive and pub landlords were quick to cash in by arranging competitions with prizes. Behaviour inside and outside church towers was not good. This was particularly true in the South West, where scrumpy was the order of the day in the tower.
“Bishop’s Stortford did not escape this. By the early 19th century, the top of the tower and spire of the church was in a dangerous state and had to be rebuilt. When the work was finished in 1820, the bells were opened by the local ringers and two invited bands. The local
constable John Sayer was paid five shillings to keep order in the churchyard!
“In more recent times, the old tower visitors book which started in 1934, gave insights into what happened during the war; the sudden influx of US Air Force men filling two pages of the book in late 1943 and early 1944 ready for the Normandy Landings. It was an entry in
1978 of an airman revisiting 34 years later that caught my eye. The very poignant story that emerged from that one line entry is told in my book.
“The life of the tower over the ages gradually emerged and the book that I never intended to write had developed and formed the basis of several talks that I gave before the lockdowns.”
Alan, who was born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, has been ringing bells for 20 years. The former managing director of a steel products manufacturing company moved to Stansted eight years ago.
He and his wife Margaret, also a ringer at St Michael’s, have four children and six grandchildren.
Tales from the Tower is on sale, price £7.99, from Bishop’s Stortford Tourist Information Centre or directly from the bellringers by emailing bells@stmichaelweb.org.uk
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