u3a

St Ives (Cambs)

The Church Bells of Cambridgeshire

We began by looking at the bell foundry of Joseph Eayre in St. Neots before moving onto a short video of the John Taylor Bell Foundry at Loughborough founded by a descendant of one of Joseph Eayre's apprentices.

The Bluntisham Bells became well known due to the novel "The Nine Taylors" by Dorothy L. Sayers. The gradual restoration of the bells started by Rev. Sayers in 1910  was finally completed in 2004. Various other churches were mentioned where there was something of interest.

This year Holywell celebrated 400 years of their bells with a flower festival, well dressing and a very interesting talk.

One member researched the bells of Great St. Mary in Cambridge and two members told us of their experience of bell ringing. St. Clement's Church in Cambridge has a display on bell ringing and  offers people the chance to ring the bells.