Wotton-under-Edge Branch
Leighterton (St Andrew)

Name or Dedication: St Andrew

Location: Leighterton, Gloucestershire

Grid Reference: ST823910

These bells are hung on plain bearings in separate frames. The tenor is hung in a massive oak frame of uncertain date (but probably 17th Century), with 16th Century fittings including an elm heastock and keyed ironwork to attach the bell's canons to the headstock. It has an unusual 17th Century wheel, and its stay and slider are 19th Century. It was cast at the Bristol Foundry in the late 15th or early 16th Century by a founder whose initials were "R.T.", although these initials do not appear on this bell. The treble is hung with an elm headstock in a smaller frame above above that of the tenor.

Also in the tower are eight tubular bells in the key of C, cast by Messrs Harrington of Coventry. They range in size from 56 inches long and 3 inches in diameter, to 88 inches long and 3½ inches in diameter. They are sounded from a chiming manual whereby hammers are operated by wires from a special keyboard.

Bells hung for full-circle ringing

Source: "Church Bells of Gloucestershire" (Mary Bliss & Frederick Sharpe, 1986). Weights estimated personally.

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.

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