OS: SO810427
Hanley Swan, St Gabriel
The Hanley Swan Church, St Gabriel, is a fairly modern church built in late Victorian times and is situated a little West of the crossroads in the middle of the village on the South side of the B4209. There is a sizable car park beside the churchyard.
In the outside North face of the tower there is an entrance to the concrete spiral staircase of 30 steps that leads up to the ringing room. This isn't a very big room and a big chunk of one wall is taken up by the clock mechanism but the other 3 sides all have windows making it a nice light space. There is room for half a dozen people in addition to those ringing the six bells.
2010-03-18 [ expand ]
I visited for the first time on Thursday 18th March 2010 for the "Two Hundred and Fourtyfifth Mid-week Outing" of the Four Shires Guild of Bell Ringers. I rang the Tenor for a touch of Stedman Doubles and bell #3 for a touch of Bob Minor. The bells that I rang were both nice and easy to ring.
2011-06-30 [ expand ]
My second visit was on Thursday 30th June 2011 as the second tower
[1st,
3rd,
4th,
]
of the Harry Windsor Ringing Centre annual outing.
I started by ringing the tenor for Rounds and call changes and ended by ringing down bell #4.
The Bells
The tower has a ring of 6 bells with a tenor weighing 6-1-0 in B♭. Dove's Guide includes details of the bells at St Gabriel and additional information is provided by the Worcestershire & Districts Change Ringing Association. The bells were refurbished in 2008. No information on the bells history or inscriptions was to be found in the tower.
