St George's Church, Woolhope

Woolhope Bells and Ringing

History of the Bells

St George’s Church has a peal of six bells hung in a massive 17th century oak frame. Ringing takes place from the ground floor and can be accessed through a door at the rear of the church. The bells are hung in an anti-clockwise orientation, which is fairly uncommon.

The 4th bell is the oldest, cast in Bristol between 1380 and 1420. It bears the inscription “Sancte Iohannes hora pro nobis” – Saint John pray for us – and may have rung out in celebration of the victory of Agincourt in October 1415. This bell is the only one in Herefordshire from this foundry.

The 3rd bell was cast in 1649 (the year of Charles I’s execution) and the 5th bell in 1662 (shortly after the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II). The 6th bell (the Tenor) dates from 1839, the 1st bell (the Treble) from 1882 and the 2nd bell was re-cast in 1887.

BellImperial Weight
(cwt-qtrs-lbs)		Metric Weight
(kg)		Note
(F major)		Diameter
(cm)		DateFounder
Treble5-0-23264D74.31882John Taylor, Loughborough
Second5-3-0292C81.41887John Warner & Sons, London
Third6-2-0330B♭87.71649John Pennington I, Monmouth
Fourth7-2-0381A93.4c1400Medieval Bristol Foundry
Fifth9-1-0470G101.71662John Pennington I, Monmouth
Tenor13-1-0673F108.71839Thomas Mears, Gloucester
Details of Woolhope bells

Refurbishment and Rehanging

In December 2015, after 3 years of fund raising, the bells were taken out and sent to Nicholson Engineering in Dorset to be refurbished with new headstocks, bearings, clappers and wheels fitted. The bells were returned and rehung in April 2016 and dedicated at the Patronal Service for St George on Sunday 24th April 2016.

Get Involved in Bell Ringing

Bell ringing practices take place most Fridays between 11:00am and 12:30pm. Visiting ringers are always very welcome, regardless of skill level, but please check our Ringing Calendar beforehand, as we practice at St Mary’s Church, Fownhope on alternate months. We are always looking for new recruits, so if you are interested in learning to ring church bells, or would just like to come and watch one of our practices, please Contact Us.

We also invite you to visit our Ringing Resources page, which includes a collection of help-sheets designed to supplement our practices. We enjoy the challenge of ringing something new from time to time, so a help-sheet can be very useful to refer to. There are also links to other bell ringing websites and tutorials.

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