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LyndenleaWotton-under-Edge Branch
Great Badminton (St Michael & All Angels)
Name or Dedication: St Michael & All Angels
Location: Great Badminton, Gloucestershire
Grid Reference: ST806828
Cast from the previous ring of three as the back three of a proposed ring of six, the bells are hung with cast iron headstocks on plain bearings in the lower tier of a two-tier cast iron six-bell frame installed by Gillett & Johnston in 1914. The three-bell Ellacombe Chiming Apparatus was probably installed in the first floor Ringing Room at the same time. The bells were rung regularly until 1948, the last time being on the night of 14th November that year to celebrate the birth of Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales. However, they were not rung again until August 2004 when David Matthews and friends restored them to working order.
The church is attached to Badminton House, and replaced a Medieval church that stood further to the west on the same site. An arch in the east wall of the Ringing Room may have originally opened out onto the gallery at the back of the nave, but this is now blocked up. There is evidence of a clock previously in the tower, apparently added after the arch was blocked, or perhaps the arch was blocked to conceal the workings. There is no clock in the tower now, but there is one in the nearby Stable Block of Badminton House. This clock chimes the quarters and strikes the hours on three small bells of its own, and may well have been moved from the church tower in the past.
Bells hung for full-circle ringing
| Bell | Weight | Diameter | Note | Founder | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4-1-13 | 29½ in | C | Gillett & Johnston | 1914 |
| 2 | 5-3-03 | 32½ in | Bb | Gillett & Johnston | 1914 |
| 3 | 8-0-15 | 36 in | Ab | Gillett & Johnston | 1914 |
Source: Bell data from "Church Bells of Gloucestershire" (Mary Bliss & Frederick Sharpe, 1986). Weights from a document in Great Badminton Ringing Room. Further information from Anita Matthews. Inspected personally 2nd July 2006.
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.