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| The bells of St. Mary in the church tower at Greasley |
St. Mary's church in Greasley has a long history and deep-rooted links to Beauvale Priory. For two hundred years the church was run from the priory and one of the bells in the church tower almost certainly came from there.
"Dulcis Sisto Melis, Vocor, Campana Gabrielis"
"I am of sweet sound; I am called the bell of Gabriel"
It is a very sweet-toned bell, and was probably the "Angelus" bell at the priory, the bell that was rung three times a day as a call to prayer, specifically to pray the Angelus, a Catholic devotion that commemorates the Annunciation by the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary...
"Ave Maria gratia plena; Dominus tecum; benedicta tu in mulieribus."
"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women."
The Angel Gabriel is specifically honoured in this tradition as the messenger who delivered the news that Mary would conceive the Son of God. Angelus bells are often dedicated to or inscribed with Gabriel's name, reinforcing this connection.
Recasting the Angelus
It seems likely that the bell was repurposed and came to St. Mary's around 1540 when Beauvale Priory was closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. There it remained until 1922 when, during a renovation of all the bells by Taylor's of Loughborough, it underwent a dramatic transformation by being "recast". A precise mould is made of the original bell including any inscriptions, it is melted down and remade as new.
Recasting - "Bells that are cracked, and those that are of such poor shape that tonal improvement through tuning is impossible, can be recast. Recasting means that the usable portion of the metal of the old bell will be used in making a new bell of like size. Historic inscriptions can be copied on the recast bell."
So does that still make it the bell from Beauvale? I'm not sure it does.
Links to Beauvale Priory
There was a church at Greasley in 1086 and the list of parish priests can be traced back to 1254. Between 1254 and 1344 there were six rectors, but in 1344 the patronage of the church "living" passed from Baron Nicholas de Cantelupe of Greasley Castle to the Prior and monks of Beauvale, the Prior becoming Rector of Greasley; the priest appointed by the Prior to minister to the parishioners became the first Vicar, and this arrangement continued for the next two hundred years until the dissolution of the Priory in 1540. When the church tower (right) was rebuilt in 1450 this was under the auspices of Beauvale's Prior.
St. Mary's Other Bells
Each bell in the church has a name and intriguing inscription often telling its history and origin. There are eight bells....
| Inscription | Size | Weight | Note | |
| Treble | To the Glory of God and In Memory of John William Fryar Of this parish Died August 19th 1915 1922 | 24" | 3.1.11 | F# |
| 2 | To the Glory of God and In Memory of John William Fryar Of this parish Died August 19th 1915 1922 | 25.5" | 3.2.5 | F |
| 3 | To the glory of God This bell was given by C.W. Phillips In memory of his mother 1922 | 27.5" | 4.1.16 | D# |
| 4 | John Taylor & Co Founders Loughborough 1869 Recast 1922 By Mary Ann Hanson Of Kimberley | 30" | 5.2.3 | C# |
| 5 | G. Hedderley of Nottingham Made Me in 1793 + O O Recast 1922 | 32.625" | 6.2.25 | B |
| 6 | Dulcis Sisto Melis Vocor Campana Gabrielis Recast 1922 | 34.75" | 7.2.15 | A# |
| 7 | J. Taylor & Co Founders Loughborough 1869 | 39.5" | 10.1.25 | G# |
| Tenor | J. Taylor & Co Founders Loughborough 1869 | 44" | 13.1.7 | F# |
In 1866 there were four bells:-
George Hedderley Nottingham 1793
Campana Gabrielis sisto meus vocor William Dawes London c 1385 to 1418
God Save Our Church Henry Oldfield - Nottingham 1609
The fourth bore no inscription. It has been suggested it could have been by Daniel Hedderley who cast some blank bells.
The bell frame was dated 1699.
In 1869 Taylors of Loughborough carried out work to an estimate dated 26th June 1867 which allowed for three new bells, new clappers for the present four bells, new hanging for the four bells, new ropes and strengthening of the existing frame. A second estimate was for a second treble bell. The net cost was £177 15s 2d after allowance for the old bells.
In 1921 Taylors carried out a further inspection as a result of which Treble, Two and Three were recast, the two Tenors retuned and three Trebles donated to make up the eight. A new metal frame was built and the bells hung on roller bearings as at present.
In 1983 the bearings were renewed and the clappers refurbished by F. Pembleton, costing £910 and in 1986 the two tenors were quarter turned by Haywood-Mills at £527.58 raised by the bell ringers.
On the nave wall to the north side of the main entrance is a plaque which reads:
The bells of this church were re-hung  Dedicated September 1922. S.J. Galloway M.A. Vicar |
Sunday January the 11th 2015 saw the presentation of an appropriately engraved clock to Don and Mary Beach in recognition of their commitment to bellringing at St Mary’s Church Greasley and Don’s retirement as Tower Captain.
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| Presentation in 2015 |
Don has given encouragement and shown kindness to all those he has taught to ring during his 56 years in office. The presentation was made by his successor, Emmi Checkley, in the presence of the Revd Dave Marvin, fellow bellringers and members of the congregation.
You can hear the Greasley bells below ringing a special composition dedicated to Mary called "Mary's Peal"
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| Don and Mary were legendary bell ringers at Greasley |
How new bells are cast
Taylor's Bell Foundry in Loughborough still (Jan 2026) make new bells and recast old ones, casting them with great skill starting with standard sized bell moulds called mantles or copes.
The principle of casting bells has remained essentially the same since the 12th century. Bells are cast mouth down, in a two-part mould consisting of the inner core and the outer mantle which placed over it. The inner core is made with moulding sand mixed with resin, shaped and fired to harden it.
The outer mantle size is fine-tuned using hand-made bricks and a clay lining measured with an accurate profiling tool called a strickle so an air space of precise size exists between them.
It is filled by the molten metal. The air space equals the thickness of the finished bell and needs to be calculated based on the musical tone required.
Lettering is added to the outer mantle before the molten metal is poured in.
Donating the Angelus bell from a dissolved monastery is not an uncommon local phenomena. Tradition has it that Sir John Byron of Newstead Abbey presented Hucknall church with a bell, believed to be the Angelus Bell from Newstead when it was a monastery. The bell still hangs in the tower, although it is not a part of the current 8-bell ring.
His great-grandson, Sir John Byron, donated another bell in 1639 to mark the centenary of the Reformation. A third bell was added in 1749.
A new ring of 8 bells was commissioned from John Taylor of Loughborough in 1958. The 1639 and 1749 bells were melted down and their metal was used towards the founding of the new ring.
| Weight | Note | Inscription | |
| Treble | 4-0-22 | F# | |
| 2nd | 4-1-14 | E# | |
| 3rd | 4-3-16 | D# | |
| 4th | 5-2-0 | C# | |
| 5th | 6-2-8 | B | God Save The Church 1639 |
| 6th | 7-1-6 | A# | Theophilus Allcock Church Warden 1749 |
| 7th | 9-1-12 | G# | God Save The Church And The Schools 1958 Kenneth G Thompson, Vicar |
| Tenor | 12-2-16 | F# | To The Glory Of God. In Memory Of Henry Morley Raynor, 1885-1951 |
| Angelus | - | C# | Ave Maria |
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| Hucknall's bells |
Bell founding is one of the local industries depicted on Nottingham's Council House. Local bell founders had their own intricate insignia cast into their bells. The Oldfield family were bell founders over several generations...
"The Oldfield family appear as bellfounders in Nottingham towards the end of Henry VIII.'s reign. At Teversal is a bell, the gift of Roger Greenhalgh. made by the first of this family, Henry Oldfield. This bears his mark and shows one type of his lettering (Fig. 2), while Fig. 3 illustrates his usual style, and is taken from a bell in St. Peter's Church, Mansfield. Henry Oldfield's mark is to be found at Kirkby, Warsop, and Papplewick, and consists of a cross on Calvary between the letters H. and O. with a crescent and star above, the star being taken from the town seal of Nottingham. In addition to this mark—his only one in the Deanery—Henry, in his later years, used another, which is rare, with a bell on a shield enclosed in a circle composed of these words: "+ made bi Henri Ouldfeld I." Such was Henry's fame that when Great Tom of Lincoln needed recasting in 1610-11 he was employed with Robert Newcombe, of Leicester, to do the work. Referring to this the Rev. J. J. Raven, in the "The Bells of England, says: "Some consider this union of founders to be due to the fact that Newcombe lived in the diocese, and that Oldfield had the higher reputation.""
"George Oldfield was the son of Henry, and, likewise, worked at Nottingham. He used the mark of his father (Fig. 2) substituting G. for H. Another mark of his, rare, and not found in the Deanery, is a fleur de lys between the letters G. and O. The lettering (Fig. 4) is taken from a bell of his at Suttpn-in-Ashfield. At Kirkby is a bell bearing shield (Fig. 7), together with the King and Queen's heads, Fig. 6; according to North denotes the work of the Oldfield's, the King and Queen's heads being a mark which had fallen into their hands amongst the stock of some pre-Reformation bell-founder. The inscription on the Kirkby bell is: "I.H.S. Maria, and North, in his "Bells of Lincolnshire," states in the inscriptions on eleven bells in that county bearing the double marks four commence "Nomine," and seven "I.H.S." The band of ornament (Fig. 12) taken from a bell at Woodhouse shews another style of Oldfield ornament. The same bell bears also the shield (Fig. 13). The shield (Fig. 5) bearing in the top quarters P.H., is taken from one of the Selston bells, which also bears George Oldfield's usual mark. The letters P.H. may possibly represent a Philip Oldfield working in conjunction with his brother."Papplewick church of St James has an Oldfield bell... "In the belfry, there are five bells, each of which carries an inscription. One bears the trademark of the celebrated Nottingham bell-founder , Henry Oldfield, and the date 1620. The inscription reads: “I sweetly tolling men do call, to feaste on meates that feed the soule“. Another is simply marked with a cross, and the name of ELENA inscribed in old English. This bell may date back to the latter half of the 15th century."
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Sources
History of Suton in Ashfield by Luther Lindley 1907
The Priory of Beauvale, in this county, or, as it was called in Latin, de Pulchra Valle in parco de Gresseley, was founded by Nicholas de Cantelupe in 1342. The last Prior was Thomas Woodcock. Beauvale is in the parish of Greasley, and there is now hanging in the fine tower of Greasley Church a bell which, tradition says, came from Beauvale at the Dissolution. It is a very sweet toned bell, and was probably the "angelus" bell at the Priory, and was rung at sundown to remind people to say their "Ave Maria gratia plena; Dominus tecum; benedicta tu in mulieribus." That was the salutation of the angel Gabriel, and was not a prayer to the Virgin; and it would be well if Christiana were reminded by the bell when it rings now, as it still does in some of our parishes, of our Lord's Incarnation—"that He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary." The legend on the Greasley bell is, "Dulcis Sisto Melis, Vocor, Campana Gabrielis," I am of sweet sound; I am called the bell of Gabriel.
THE BELLS.
In 1922, attention was turned to the bells. There were four bells in the tower in 1866 and two of these were re-cast and a fifth added in 1869. The oldest is pre-Reformation and is thought to have once been in Beauvale Priorv. In 1922 it was decided to make a peal of eight, and for this purpose three of the existing five bells were re-cast and three more added, and the whole peal suspended on a steel framework.
This improvement cost £1,500 but was well worth it, and to-day Greasley possesses one of the finest set of bells in the Midlands and is a veritable Mecca for ringers from near and far.
https://taylorbells.co.uk/
http://www.mwbells.com/pages/tuning/tuning.htm#:~:text=Recasting%20means%20that%20the%20usable,awaits%20recasting%20in%20our%20foundry
Recasting an old church bell is a specialized process carried out by expert bell foundries. It is a common practice when a bell is cracked, damaged, or cannot be tuned accurately.
Process of Recasting
Evaluation: The bell is first inspected by specialists to determine its condition, historical significance, and if recasting (or an alternative, such as modern welding) is the best solution.
Removal: The bell is safely removed from the church tower, which often involves complex logistics and specialized equipment due to the weight of the bells.
Transport to Foundry: The bell is transported to a bell foundry. The UK's last remaining bell foundry is John Taylor & Co in Leicestershire.
Melting and Casting:
At the foundry, the old bell is broken down and melted.
The valuable bell metal (an alloy of copper and tin) is reused; additional new bronze is typically added to ensure the correct composition and weight for the new bell.
A new mold, based on the precise desired profile and the "lost-wax" method or similar techniques, is prepared.
The molten metal is poured into the mold and allowed to cool and solidify.
Finishing and Tuning:
Once cooled, the mold is removed, revealing the new bell.
The bell is meticulously finished and tuned to match the pitch, tone, and scale of other bells in the ring.
Any original inscriptions from the old bell are typically reproduced on the new one in facsimile.
Reinstallation: The finished bell is transported back to the church and reinstalled in the belfry with new or refurbished fittings (headstocks, clappers, etc.).
Key Considerations
Expert Help: This is a job for a professional bell foundry or specialist engineering firm with expertise in bell conservation and restoration, such as John Taylor & Co or Matthew Higby & Company Ltd.
Historical Preservation: Bell advisory bodies and diocesan committees generally recommend retaining as much of the original historic fabric and fittings as possible. Recasting is usually a last resort when the bell is no longer functional.
Alternatives: Modern techniques, such as specialized welding, can sometimes repair cracks and restore a bell's ring without the need for full recasting, preserving more of its original material and character.
Cost and Fundraising: The process is expensive, often requiring significant fundraising efforts by the local community or church.
Planning: The project requires careful planning, often involving consultation with the parish's inspecting architect and relevant bell-ringing associations or heritage bodies.
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