Skip to: 
LyndenleaWotton-under-Edge Branch
Stone (All Saints)
Name or Dedication: All Saints
Location: Stone, Gloucestershire
Grid Reference: ST684954
The two original Medieval bells were recast into a ring of five by Abraham Rudhall II in 1721, the fourth bell becoming cracked and being recast twice by Thomas Rudhall in 1766. They were hung high in the tower and rung from the ground floor, giving a very long draught of rope. The ring was augmented to six with the addition of a new treble in 1908 by Mears & Stainbank, who also removed the canons from the tenor, quarter-turned the back five bells and rehung all six lower in the tower, with elm headstocks on plain bearings in a two-tier cast iron frame on oak sills. The first floor Ringing Room was probably created at this time. The back five bells retain their cast-in crown staples so clapper reversers were used when they were turned – these allow for very little adjustment and the bells are rather odd-struck as a result.
The middle four bells retain their canons, those on the fifth being cabled, and the treble was cast with a Doncaster crown. In 1963 one of the canons broke off the third bell, so Arthur Fidler made a temporary repair with four bolts. This presumably lasted until the bells were rehung on ball bearings by the ringers and friends in the 1980s.
In the chamber above the Ringing Room is the clock movement. This was given in 1910 and strikes the hours on the fifth bell. Its weights originally dropped all the way to the ground floor, but now stop at the Ringing Room floor. Its dial is on the south wall of the tower.
Bells hung for full-circle ringing
| Bell | Weight | Diameter | Note | Founder | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2-3-14 | 23 in | Bb | Mears & Stainbank | 1908 |
| 2 | 3 cwt | 24 in | Ab | Abraham Rudhall II | 1721 |
| 3 | 3¼ cwt | 24¾ in | Gb | Abraham Rudhall II | 1721 |
| 4 | 3½ cwt | 26 in | F | Thomas Rudhall | 1766 |
| 5 | 4 cwt | 27¾ in | Eb | Abraham Rudhall II | 1721 |
| 6 | 5½ cwt | 30¼ in | Db | Abraham Rudhall II | 1721 |
Source: "Church Bells of Gloucestershire" (Mary Bliss & Frederick Sharpe, 1986). Weights from Dove's Guide. Date of fourth from Andrew Bull. Further information from a document in Stone Ringing Room.
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.