Church Bells of Warwickshire

NEWTON REGIS NEWTON REGIS St Mary 3, 9-0-5 in G

Grid Reference	140/279075
Postcode	B79 0NA
Recording
Affiliation	St Martin's Guild
Peals	None
Sunday	None
Practice	None

History

This church is the most northerly in the county, being a close run thing with nearby Seckington.  The church is mainly 14th century, with a later clerestory.  It is well worth a visit, but is normally kept locked.

The church  stands at the higher east end of the village street and consists of a chancel, nave, south porch, and west tower with a spire. The lower part of the tower dates from the early 13th century; it was probably an addition to a 12th-century or earlier main body. The chancel was rebuilt (c. 1320), and had a south vestry: the nave was rebuilt soon afterwards (c. 1330–40), and the west tower was remodelled and heightened and the spire erected. Clearstories were raised above the chancel late in the 14th century and above the nave about a century afterwards. The vaulted south porch—an unusual feature—was added probably in the 15th century. The tower was reinforced in the 18th century by adding an extra thickness of 12 in. or more to the west face. The whole edifice was restored internally in 1905 and externally in 1908.

The oak frame and fittings by are by Taylors, 1931 and the bells are ringable. The treble is a recast of a Whitechapel bell of 1769. In this year ownership of the foundry passed from Lester and Pack to Pack and Chapman. The bell had been long broken and a piece of it that could have shown the founder was missing. The old bells retain their canons, the treble being cast flat topped.  There is a large wooden beam in the ringing room at about head height, the treble and tenor being on one side of it and the 2nd on the other!

The inscriptions for the then two bells, the back two of the ring, are given in Tilley and Walter's book, "The Church Bells of Warwickshire". They note that there was a spare pit in the frame that seems to have formerly held a treble bell:

Details of the Bells

1 John Taylor & Co., Loughborough  1931  5-2-17  31.13"  994.0Hz (B+11c)
2 Newcombe, Leicester              1602  6-2-19  34.25"  886.5Hz (A+13c)
3 Hugh Watts II, Leicester         1642  9-0-05  37.50"  790.5Hz (G+14c)

Photo Gallery
The Church Looking East	A Plan of the Church