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Bristol Rural Branch
Oldbury-on-Severn (St Arilda)

St Arilda, Oldbury-on-Severn - click for a larger version

Name or Dedication: St Arilda

Location: Oldbury-on-Severn, Gloucestershire

Grid Reference: ST608919

The single bell in this tower is hung by its canons in a low-sided oak A-frame, on plain bearings with an elm headstock. The frame and fittings were probably installed by Llewellins & James in 1899. Given by John Barnard, the father of the Rector at the time, the bell is appropriately inscribed "His children are blessed after him" (Proverbs 20:7). It is rung from the Vestry in the ground floor of the tower.

There are records of various single bells in the tower from before 1792. On 31st October 1897 the church was gutted by a severe fire, in which was lost a 41-inch diameter bell cast by Thomas Mears II at Gloucester in 1844.

Bells hung for full-circle ringing

The bells of St Arilda, Oldbury-on-Severn
BellWeightDiameterNoteFounder Date
15½ cwt 31 inB Llewellins & James 1899

Source: Robin Shipp and "Church Bells of Gloucestershire" (Mary Bliss & Frederick Sharpe, 1986). Details of previous (Mears) bell from "The Church Bells of Gloucestershire" (Revd Henry Thomas Ellacombe, 1881).


Where the exact weight of a bell is known, it is given in the traditional way using the British imperial units of Hundredweight, Quarters and Pounds (cwt-qtr-lb) in which there are 28 pounds in a quarter, four quarters in a hundredweight, and 20 hundredweight in a ton (one hundredweight is equal to approximately 50.8 kilograms). However, if only an approximate or calculated weight is known, it is given to the nearest quarter of a hundredweight.

A bell's diameter is measured across its mouth (open end) at the widest point and is given in inches (to the nearest quarter of an inch), one inch being equal to approximately 2.54 centimetres.