Bell ringing practice    Wednesday evenings    6:30 until 8:30 pm

Visitors most welcome.

We ring for both services on Sundays, for weddings and some other special services

 and for noteworthy occasions, such as Her Majesty the Queen's 80th Birthday.

Annual Bell-Ringing Outing:    the last Saturday in June

This year:    Saturday 24th June to South Devon.

BELL DETAILS

HISTORY OF THE LANIVET BELLS

From a brief history of the bells prepared in conjunction with an appeal for funds in 1924, we learn that in the thirtieth year of the reign of King Henry the eighth, 1539, a number of bells, which we believe to have been four, were purchased for the sum of £36/14/6 (£36 72p) the receipt for which was signed by a John Tregons.

A terrier drawn up by the Reverend John Vashon, the Rector of Lanivet from 1701 to 1738 states that in the year 1727 there were five bells in the tower "lately newe cast'".

In 1808 these bells were again recast by John Pennington of Stoke Climsland and they currently occupy positions 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 in the octave. Although we can find no mention of the addition of a sixth bell between 1808 and 1869 we know that one was acquired because in 1869 it has been recorded that the tenor, the heaviest bell in the tower had cracked and it had to be recast by John Taylor & Co the Bellfounders of Loughborough in Leicestershire. John Taylor & Co will say that this bell too was originally cast in 1808 by the Pennington family.

We know, too, that the appeal of 1924 which has been referred to earlier was launched to finance a most ambitious project which would see the replacement of the wooden frame on which the six bells were mounted by a composite construction comprising cast iron frame sides mounted upon a foundation of rolled steel girders with the girders taking their bearings in the tower walls. At this time too, two further treble or smaller bells were acquired, it is believed from the old Priory at Bodmin and all the bells were refurbished and mounted on ball bearings. Little wonder then that the church bells at Lanivet are considered by some to represent the Rolls-Royce of bell installations.

Sixty-four years later in 1988, another of the original bells, number 5 in what by then was a peal of 8 was also found to be cracked. In their assessment of the cause of this damage Messers Taylors are on record as stating "The bell measures 2 feet 8¾ inches in diameter and has a weight of 5 hundredweight, 3 quarters and 20 pounds with a frequency or note being 953Hz or the note B flat. The bell is somewhat deficient in weight for its diameter and for the note it sounds. The bell has a high tin content (not to be unexpected having regard for where it had been last recast in 1808) which produces a more brittle bellmetal which makes it prone to cracking. The bell was discovered to be very porous around the soundbow indicating that the metal when poured into the mould was too cool". This bell was subsequently recast by Taylors early in 1989 at a cost of £2545.30 and weighing exactly twenty pounds heavier than it had been before.

While none of the bells are named, a number of them have meaningful inscriptions. The treble bell is inscribed with the names of the Rector, the Rev. S. Windsor and Churchwardens F. J. Henwood and S. Partridge in 1924. The sixth has the words "Peace and Good Neighbourhood" around the top rim. The seventh bell is inscribed with the names Nicholas Grose & William Tenney presumably Churchwardens at the time of the recasting in 1808 and the Taylor motif and the dates of recasting have been included with other decoration on the treble, 2, 5 and tenor bells.

These bells and the tower in which they are installed are part of our parochial heritage. They are assets over which we have but a fleeting custody and a privilege to maintain.

If anyone reading this is interested in seeing the bells for themselves, or have a desire and the skills to become involved with the ongoing maintenance of them or in learning to actually ring them we would be delighted to welcome you.