OS: SO867096
Painswick, St Mary
St Mary's Church is in the middle of the small Cotswold town of Painswick on the East side of New Street (A46) which runs through the town. There is no on street parking nearby but there is a Pay and display car park short walk down New Street.
The Church and its Yew trees are one of the main reasons that people visit Painswick. There are supposedly 99 Yew trees and there are legends about their number.
On the North face of the tower there is a door that opens onto a short spiral starcase that leads to the ringing room. The room has plenty of room to ring 12 bells with seating for several more people.
2009-09-17
I visited for the first time on Thursday 17th September 2009 for the "Two Hundred and Thirtyninth Mid-week Outing" of the Four Shires Guild of Bell Ringers. I do not know any methods on 12 bells but started by ringing up bell #4. I also managed Rounds, Call Changes and Plain Hunt on bell #11, Rounds and Call Changes on bell #8 and ended by ringing down bell #7. Although there are 12 bells they are much lighter than my previous experience of ringing 12 at Evesham Bell Tower.
The Bells
The tower has a ring of 12 bells with a tenor weighing 25-2-19 in D. Dove's Guide includes details of the bells at St Mary with some additional information provided by The Gloucester & Bristol Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers.
