The Bells of Attleborough, Norfolk

Attleborough is a pleasant little town, although it is sometimes put in the shade by Wymondham, its more famous neighbour. And this church too suffers by comparison with Wymondham Abbey, but it deserves to be better known. In some counties it would stand amongst the highest rank of churches. Pevsner considered it a very stately church in the middle of an uncommonly featureless little town, which seems harsh, for Attleborough has very much the character of a typical small East Anglian agricultural town, one of many.
The exterior of the church is a little odd, especially when seen from the east, for the tower is at the east end rather than the west. It is flanked by two long transepts which, taken together with the tower, form on their own a structure larger than some churches. However, the long, wide nave hides behind, for this was once a great Norman cruciform church with a central tower, and the old chancel has been lost. It was wide enough to have aisles, and it was taken down in 1541 after the college of priests had been closed. Not much of the Norman structure survives other than the lower part of the tower, for the church was considerably rebuilt in the mid-14th Century, the nave was given new arcades in the 15th Century, and the clerestories and roof were altered in the early 16th Century.
You enter through the large 15th Century north porch under a vaulted ceiling. There are five large bosses forming a rosary sequence, but unfortunately they have been whitewashed so many times over the years that they are barely legible. The central one shows the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin as the Queen of Heaven, which would have been the ultimate one in the sequence. Of the others, you can still make out the Annunciation and the Ascension of Christ.
The tower holds a ring of six bells with a tenor of 12-2-18cwt and tuned to E. They are rung from the unique upstairs ringing chamber, which is accessed by a metal spiral staircase. The rope circle is rather odd, with the three trebles hanging in a straight line. The bells are not rung regularly, and are particularly loud outside. They are, however, easy to ring and strike. Interestingly, and something that is certainly not common, is that the 6 bells were all cast at different dates by 5 different founders, between 1617 and 1972. The treble was cast in 1671 by Robert Gurney, the 2nd was cast in 1926 by Mears & Stainbank, the 3rd in 1617 by William & Alice Brend, the 4th being the youngest having been recast in1972 by John Taylor & Co, the 5th cast in 1923 by Mears & Stainbank and the tenor cast in 1828 by William Dobson which I feel is a particularly good bell.
The source for the history of the church was found on norfolkchurches.co.uk, the details of the bells came from Dove's Guide. Recorded on Monday 6th May 2024 during our Spring Tour to Norfolk.

[@smoath]

Lovely church, and bells.

[@user-if7qb3el5z]

Hi Ollie It’s Me Ringer Floyd

[@user-sn1qx1tm4l]

quite mellow

[@DeclanTheRinger]

@tittums ringer ollie thx for this lovley vid
id

[@user-if7qb3el5z]

We were supposed to meet up at colmans Hatch holy trinity back in Sussex With My dad

[@jasnfinlay]

These are quite nice actually. Though I think I’d visit more for the church itself from an architectural perspective, rather than the bells!