Bromsgrove, St John the Baptist

The Bromsgrove Church, St John the Baptist [1] is situated near the middle of the town beside the Kidderminster Road (A448). I managed to park on the side Kidderminster Road but there is a nearby town centre car park.

I visited for the first time on Monday 4^th May 2009 for a session arranged in advance of the WDCRA AGM. A not untypical Bank Holiday with miserable weather. The ringing room is reached by climbing a long stone spiral staircase. The entrance to the staircase is inside the tower and the rise on the steps is large. This is a 10 bell tower and the ringing room is large with plenty of space for those ringing and lots of additional seating. I was in two minds about visiting this tower since I do not know any methods for 10 bells, or even 8 bells. However, I had to pass right by it to get to Chaddesley Corbett so decided to give it a try. When I arrived there were only 4 ringers there so no problem with ringing too many bells. We started by ringing Double Court on the back 5 with me on the treble which seemed to go fine. We followed this with a touch of Plain Bob Doubles. At this point some more people arrived and continued ringing on the back 8. I rang the Treble for a touch of Grandsire Triples, which I am not sure that I managed without some wrinkles, followed by a touch of Plain Bob Triples with me covering on the Tenor. In hindsight I am glad I called in and enjoyed ringing here.

The Bells

The tower has a ring of 10 bells with a tenor weighing 17-1-17 in E. Dove's Guide includes details of the bells at St John the Baptist. 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 John the Baptist, Bromsgrove.