The Lewis Bells

The maiden peal of bells were presented to the church on 1880 when it stood in Wells Street, by Mrs. Imbert Terry in memory of her daughter who had died in 1878.They are technically known as a "maiden peal" as none of the bells required tuning after they left the moulds.

Each of the eight bells bear two continuous legends. The first consists of two verses from S.Bernard's hymn 'Jesus dulcis memoria' and the second gives the name of the donor and the circumstances of the gift. The bells were cast by C.T.Lewis of Brixton, better known as an organ builder. A copy of a letter from Christopher Dalton to 'Ringing World' is reproduced below: The bells are a true maiden peal and are the only remaining complete ring of eight by Lewis. The weight of the tenor is believed to be 21cwt.

The Inscriptions

1. NIL CANTITUR SUAVIUS
AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM
2. NIL AUDITUR JUCUNDIUS
IN USUM ECCLESIAE SANCTI ANDREAE

3. NIL COGITATUR DULCIUS

DE WELLS STREET HAS CAMPANAS
4. QUAM JESUS DEI FILIUS
SUSANNA IMBERT TERRY DONO DEDIT
5. GLORIA TIBI DOMINE
IN MEMORIAM DILECTISSIMAE FILIAE
6. QUI NATUS ES DE VIRGINE
ANTONIETTAE CATHERINAE BOUHIER IMBERT TERRY
7. CUM PATRE ET SANCTO SPIRITO
QUAE OBIIT DIE XXV11 SEPTEMBRIS
8. IN SEMPITERNA SAECULA
ANNO AETATIS XVIII ET HUMANAE SALUTIS MDCCCLXXVIII

From 'Ringing World' 25th April 1980

Sir, - Mr. E.R.Robbins asks (p183) for information on the bell founding activities of Thomas C.Lewis, organ builder of Shepherd's Lane Bixton. Lewis has long facsinated me, though so far I have done little more than note where his bells exist when I have come across them, or been told about them by kind informants. He seems to have cast most of his bells in 1879-80 and to have done very little work either before or since. As George Elphick observes in his Sussex Bells and Belfries, Lewis added bell founding to his organ building business in or about 1878, but had finished with his sideline at the latest by 1888 when Alfred Lawson of Whitechapel bought up the remains of his foundry.

Here is a list of all rings or sets of bells cast by T.C.Lewis that are know to me.

  • Roehampton Roman Catholic Church. Chime of 13 (diatonic 10 plus 3 semitones) 1879
  • Holnbury St. Mary, Surrey, former chime of five 1879 or 1880
  • Kingsbury, Middlesex, ring of eight. 1880 (moved with the church from Wells Street, London W1 in 1933-34
  • Fulney, Lincs, ring of eight 1880 (two trebles recast by Taylor in 1889)
  • Shipbourne, Kent, ring of six 1880 Kespton, Kent, chime of six 1880
  • Heythorp, Oxon, ring of three 1880 (the lightest three of a projected eight)

In addition Lewis cast single bells for:

  • Roffey, Sussex 1978
  • Longstock, Hants 1879
  • proxton, Yorks 1879
  • Manningford Bruce, Wilts 1881
  • S.Mark, North Audley Street, London 1882
  • S.John, Bognor, Sussex (two) 1884 (since recast)
  • Sprowston, Norfolk, 1884
  • S.Luke, Brighton, Sussex 1885
And there is an example at Llanbadarnfawr, Powis

 

It is always said - indeed it was claimed by Lewis himself - that he would never allow his bells to be tuned, and also that he avoided the octave 'hum-note' (as in a bell tuned on Canon Simpson's principle), preferring it to be approximately a major seventh below the "strike note". An example of both features is the ring at Kingsbury, probably Lewis's best known bells, designed and cast to accord with his version of "old-standard" tuning. Allegedly he cast more than 20 bells for this church before achieving a ring of eight which was acceptable in tune without any tuning, but I cannot vouch for the lack of tuning as I did not see the bells when I rang them in 1966. However, those of C.T.Lewis's bells that I have seen refute both claims made by - and for - him, in that many of them have been tuned, extensively in some cases, on a lathe and in that quite a number do have octave hum notes. For instance, the excellent fourth bell in the ring of five at Longstock, near Stockbridge, must have spent many hours on the tuning lathe, and is so near to being a "true harmonic" bell that Canon Simpson would have been proud of it.

At Roehampton, admittedly the six heaviest bells and the lightest are maiden but the other six have been 'skirted', three of them heavily, to sharpen their notes. There is no consistency here about the hum-notes either, approximately half of them being close to Simpson's principle and the other half being nearer to the old standard. Incidentally, the Roehampton instalation is very much an organ builder's job, the bells being chimed from a keyboard by means of an elaborate pneumatic system.

Yours etc. Christopher Dalton. Daventry, Horthants