St
James the Great, Stonesfield.
Practice
nights: Wednesdays from 1930-2100 hrs
Service ringing: Sundays from 1015-1100 hrs.
In
1783 the four bells were augmented to five.
Trees on Church land were cut down to make a timber frame for hanging the
bell. Payment was made from Church rents, amounting to
£2 6s 3½p,
plus money from the auction of trees, which had been felled and replaced by
young trees.
In
1837 ringers were paid five shillings (25p) for ringing at Christmas and 5
November, although ringing on bonfire night was discontinued in 1843.
By 1875 the pay had doubled to ten shillings and by 1970 had still
reached no more than £3! These
days the ringers only receive payment for ringing the bells at weddings.
The fee is currently £10 per ringer.
There
was a tradition in the village that the Church bells were rung when there was a
frost at night, to warn the slate makers to get up, and uncover their blocks of
damp stone, so the frost could split them into plates, suitable for making
roofing slates.
In
1860, Francis Robinson, a keen ringer and son of the Rector, gave the treble
bell. He was the founder and first Master of the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church
Bell Ringers. In the same year the fifth bell (originally cast at the Wokingham
Foundry in the 15th Century) was recast.
The
bells have been rehung twice, the first time being in 1939, just before World
War II, when the two tier wooden frame was replaced with a single tier cast iron
frame; the second in 1997, when the cast-in crown staples were removed.
The ringers, with the help of the Churchwardens and Rector, raised a
total of £17,500 in just over four months to pay for this.
Treble
(Whitechapel Foundry 1860)
3-1-2
Second
(Thomas Rudhall 1783) 3-3-24
Third
(Matthew Bagley III 1756)
4-1-10
Fourth
(Richard Keene 1660)
5-0-24
Fifth
(Whitechapel Foundry 1860)
5-3-26
Tenor (Joseph Carter 1602) 7-3-22.