History of the Bells

History of the Bells

The oldest bell in the tower was cast in 1601, so there is a long history attached to the bells. For many years there were just four bells cast by three different founders and so it is likely that the bells were not cast for Campsea Ashe, but they were brought here from different towers.

Download our leaflet about the bells here (over 5mb).

The bells were rarely rung during the 20th century. There is a report of them being rung in the early part of the century, but little since then until the four bells were partly restored in the 1990s and made available for ringing. This restoration was only ever going to be a temporary solution, but it generated enough enthusiasm to start a new ringing band at the Church and for the PCC to decide to undertake a full restoration and augmentation project in 2007. Within four years the four bells became seven - six bells in peal and one service bell - and they are now regularly rung.

Treble, two and three

The front three bells, along with the tenor bell, are the newest bells in the tower and were cast in 2010 by Whitechapel Bell Foundry, London. They were cast as part of a major restoration and augmentation project and were hung by Nicholson’s Engineering. 

Fourth bell

The fourth was cast in 1615 by John Brand II. He was a Norwich bell founder coming from a well known family of founders. He worked closely with his father, William, and they worked mainly in East Anglia. There are around 90 bells in Suffolk produced by his father, although fewer by John himself. It is not known when John was born, but he was certainly casting bells in the early part of the century right through to at least the 1650s. Locally some of the bells at Framlingham and Blaxhall were also cast by him. He is buried at All Saints Church, Westlegate, Norwich and his foundry was close by. 

Fifth bell

This bell, along with the tenor that was stolen was cast by Thomas Gardiner of Sudbury. He was casting bells from 1709 - 1762, so our fifth bell was one of his earlier efforts. There are 82 of his bells in Suffolk, many more in Essex and he cast 259 bells in total. Originally Thomas worked for another bellfounder, Henry Pleasant, but after Henry’s death he set up his own foundry in Sudbury on land between Burkitts Lane and Weavers Lane. He also had a foundry in Norwich. He was casting bells for over 50 years until his death in 1769. 

Tenor bell

This bell was cast in 2010 at Whitechapel. The original intention was to use the old third bell as our tenor,but this bell, along with the three new bells, were stolen in an audacious raid on the bell hanger in 2101. 

Service bell

The Service Bell is the oldest of the bells at Campsea Ashe and was cast by Richard Bowler in 1601 who was founding in Colchester from 1557 to 1604. In 1598 Richard was in trouble with the law due to his cattle straying onto the land of Reginald Oldfield, but it is not known what the outcome of the case was. Then in 1600 he was seriously assaulted and injured by Ambrose Gilbert and was close to death. During his recovery period his bells were cast by Richard Holdfield. Usually Holdfield put Bowler’s name on the bell, but with his own initials, but that is not the case with our tenor which simply has Richard Bowler’s name on it. It looks likely that the bell was actually cast by Holdfeld in Richard Bowler’s foundry.