Bretforton, St Leonard

The Bretforton Church, St Leonard [1] is built of cotswold stone and situated in the middle of the village at the junction of Main Street and Bridge Street. There is nearby parking but this is also used by patrons of The Fleece Inn and tends to be full whenever the pub is open.

I visited for the first time on Thursday 22^nd May 2009 for the "Two Hundred and Thirtyfifth Mid-week Outing" of the Four Shires Guild of Bell Ringers. There is a ground floor ring with access from outside the tower on the Northwest face. There is not much room in the tower except that needed by the ringers. This is a fairly light set of 8 bells and I rang up bell #5. As yet, I do not know any methods on 7 or 8 bells but decided to have a go at Plain Bob Triples which should be a simple step up from Plain Bob Minor. I was persuaded to try a Touch since the work is the same as Plain Bob Minor. With help from a guide I worked my way through it and they were correct that the bobs did not cause me any problem. The problem was the extra bells and remembering the order of work. I ended up by ringing down bell #2. I did not encounter any difficulty ringing the bells..

The Bells

The tower has a ring of 6 bells with a tenor weighing 8-3-11 in F♯. Dove's Guide includes details of the bells at St Leonard. No information on the bells history or inscriptions was to be found in the tower.

The Worcestershire & Districts Change Ringing Association have additional information on St Leonard, Bretforton.