Cleeve Prior, St Andrew

You can find Cleeve Prior Parish Church near the middle of the village just off Cleeve Road. The ringing room is reached by climbing a short spiral staircase starting inside the tower. It isn't a large room but there is plenty of space to ring the six bells plus a couple of seats and a clock mechamism is one corner. It is a nice airy room with a large window facing west and a glass banister facing on to the nave. Some of the bells were a little tricky to ring but they did sound good.

I visited for the first time on Monday 30^th July 2007, ringing doesn't start till 8:00pm and ends at 9:00pm. There were around 9 ringers all of whom were more capable than me, but they gave me the opportunity to ring most of the bells. I started by ringing up the tenor. We rang some call changes, they call to the back here, some plain hunt and, just for me, some plain courses of Plain Bob Doubles. The regulars rang Grandsire Doubles with bobs and singles which they did very well and it sounded very nice. There were some visitors from Canada and they were taken up to the see the bells and how they worked. I was made very welcome and when we had finished ringing I was invited to join them at the nearby Kings Arms for "refreshment".

The Bells

The tower has a ring of 6 bells with a tenor weighing 8-3-26 in G. Additional information on the Church and bells can be found at Dove's Guide and WDCRA.