OS: SO920370
Bredon, St Giles
St Giles Church [1] in Bredon is situated at the end of Church Street in the west of the village. It is set in an attractive churchyard. The tower is in the middle of the church between the chancel and the nave and topped by a tall spire. Ringing is from the ground floor providing plenty of room to ring the 6 bells but the ropes are consequently long and they are not the easiest bells to ring.
I visited for the first time on Monday 24th March 2008 as part of the WDCRA tour prior to the AGM, cherry blossom was out and a magnificent magnolia was just about to burst into flower. This was the first tower on the tour and there were about 30 ringers in total, a lot to ring 6 bells in the hour available. I rang bell #4 for Rounds and Call Changes. Calling was to the back and changes were called quickly, sometimes on each handstroke. We were told to ring them slowly but the interpretation of "slowly" seemed pretty quick to me. The more expert ringers managed Grandsire Doubles, Cambridge Surprise Minor and London Surprise Minor before I decided it was time to move on.
The Bells
The tower has a ring of 6 bells with a tenor weighing 18-2-2 in D. They appear to have had a complicated history [1, 2]. Bells #3, #4 and the Tenor are the oldest bells being cast by W Witmore in 1624. Abraham Rudhall I cast bell #5 in 1706; Abraham Rudhall II cast bell #2 in 1733; John Taylor cast the treble in 1874.
| Bell | Note | Diameter | Weight | Inscription |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Dove's Guide to the bells at St Giles |
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| 2 | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| 4 | ||||
| 5 | ||||
| Tenor | W. Witmore made us all | |||
The Worcestershire & Districts Change Ringing Association have additional information on the Bredon Parish Church of St Giles.
