Wotton-under-Edge Branch
Little Sodbury (St Adeline)

Name or Dedication: St Adeline

Location: Little Sodbury, Gloucestershire

Grid Reference: ST757832

Unringable; no slider. The bell is hung by plain canons from an elm headstock on plain bearings with an unusual wheel, and is swing-chimed from the porch in the ground floor of the tower. Its Medieval stirrup-topped clapper is probably from an earlier bell. The frame and fittings are contemporary with the church, however the frame appears to be a copy of an older example from the previous church and was probably constructed by a local craftsman. The bell was probably transferred from the previous church.

A plaque outside the church reads: "Built in 1859 from the stones & plan of William Tyndall's little chapel behind Little Sodbury Manor where he heard the call to translate the Bible into English in 1523. Martyred 6th October 1536." It is worth noting that this is possibly the only church in England dedicated to St Adeline, the patron saint of Flemish weavers.

Bells hung for full-circle ringing

Source: "Church Bells of Gloucestershire" (Mary Bliss & Frederick Sharpe, 1986). Church visited (but bell not seen) 21st January 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.

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