Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887 was celebrated with festivities in villages across Britain and the villages in our area were no exception. The village was decorated with bunting the like of which had not been seen before and a peal of bells was commenced at 5 am. Tough on anybody living in Church Street hoping to sleep in until 6 o’clock!
There has been a long tradition of ringing of church bells at times of national celebration as well as to indicate a church service is about to start or a wedding has taken place. A muffled peal, when one side of each clapper is fitted with a leather muffler so that every other round sounds like an echo, is customary for funerals or commemorative services and also to “ring out” the old year.
Recently, there was a concerted effort to ring in as many towers as possible to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III.
However, the bells of St Mary’s, Kintbury, have rung out many times before.
Back in the eighteenth century, parish records state that between the years 1746 and 1775, ringers were paid for four “Ringing Days” in addition to the usual Sundays. The ringers were paid £1 4s 0d which would have been a princely compared to the labourers’ weekly wage at that time.
It would be interesting to know who financed this? Would it have been the vicar, Rev Thomas Fowle or maybe one of his affluent Craven relatives?
1746 had three Ringing Days the dates of which were: 5th November – Guy Fawkes; 29th May – Restoration of King Charles; and 11th June (?)
It can be assumed that the fourth one was instituted to mark the final defeat of the Jacobites in the ‘45 Rebellion.
These Ringing Days occur regularly until 1782 and restart in 1806 with only two.
The many military victories were not mentioned but in 1788 they were rung for a Rejoicing Day – the King’s recovery from his first bout on insanity.
For a time during World War II, bell ringing was prohibited by the government because the bells were to be used to alert people in towns and villages if an invasion had occurred. The bells were, of course, rung again to celebrate the end of war!
Penny Fletcher, November 2023
Kintbury and Beyond 