A brass plaque at the back of Castle Bromwich church records that in 1952 the six bells were recast, thanks to a legacy from Lucy Williams (1871-1949) in memory of her husband John (1872-1926).
John Williams, usually known as Jack, was the Castle Bromwich village blacksmith, a churchwarden and a long-time bellringer at Castle Bromwich church, he is buried in the church graveyard.
John’s father was also John Williams, born in 1837, the son of James Williams; all were local blacksmiths. James’s father, another John Williams was also a blacksmith with his forge on the Chester Road where Cedar Avenue now runs.
And the churchwardens’ accounts show that yet another John Williams was paid in 1785 for re-hanging the bells. He would almost certainly be an ancestor of John and he too was also the village blacksmith at the time. It is recorded that he was paid £5: 16 shillings: 5 pence for the job. This was a large amount of money in 1785 worth perhaps £10,000s worth of labour at today’s values. But lowering the bells, presumably mending the frame and rehanging the bells was a substantial piece of work.
Lucy née Baumber was born in the tiny village of Digby in Lincolnshire some 12 miles south of the county town. How she came to meet John Williams from Castle Bromwich is not known, but the couple were married in 1899 probably at St Thomas’ Church, Digby. The marriage is recorded in Sleaford Registration District which includes Digby.
They came to live on Castle Bromwich Green, the little 18th-century house to the right of the Coach & Horses, which at that time was a small local pub, not the large building that stands there today. John was set up with his father as a blacksmith with his younger brother Arthur as an apprentice. Arthur was known locally as Clogman on account of the boots he wore. The sign on the house advertised the business as a blacksmiths and coach builders, John Williams & Sons. John specialised in shoeing horses while his brother’s forte was making wagon wheels.
As the business grew, it was decided that Arthur should remain in the old house with his wheelwright’s business while John would set up a new forge on the other side of the Green. By this time motor cars were becoming a more common sight and John began to undertake repairs on them.
This was in 1923 and there were now plans to build a new road, the Bradford Road. The traffic along the Chester Road through the old village was increasingly becoming a problem. John’s workshop was so close to the route of the new road, that he changed its name from the Forge to the Forge Garage and hoped his business would benefit from the motor cars which would be soon passing close by.
Unfortunately he did not live long enough to see the Bradford Road built, dying at the age of 54 on 26 October 1926.
After his death, Lucy took over running the Forge Garage and the blacksmith’s business, but it must have proved too much for her. Trade directories of 1927 do not record the business.
Lucy lived for another 23 years after her husband’s death and died on 29 December 1949 at the age of 78. She was buried with him in Castle Bromwich graveyard.
In memory of John’s many years as a bellringer, Lucy Williams left a bequest in her will for the church bells to be recast. The ring of six derived from an installation of 1717 paid for by Sir John Bridgeman II of Castle Bromwich Hall. These had been recast from an earlier medieval ring at the church. In 1893 to commemorate the wedding of the Duke of York, the future King George V with Princess Mary of Teck, Charles Carr of Smethwick was commissioned to cast a sixth bell.
However, it was found that the third bell was now out of tune with the new peal. Carr therefore cast a new third. It is not known how the new peal of six sounded. However, it may be that John Williams was never happy with the new bells for his wife to have left such a large sum of money in his memory to have them recast.
The 1717 bells were cast by Joseph Smith of Edgbaston long before the days of scientific tuning. However, studies of Smith’s remaining bells have been undertaken which show the remarkable skill of his casting and the accuracy of the harmonics of his bells. The old Castle Bromwich third bell, which is now in the Roundhouse at Derby College, is testament to this. By Charles Carr’s time, scientific tuning had been discovered and pretty much perfected by some bell founders, though Carr’s success in this field was less secure. It may be that Carr’s bells did not sound good or that they did not fit in with Smith’s earlier bells.
In 1952 the six bells were taken down by Gillett & Johnston, renowned bell founders of Croydon. A new fine-sounding ring was cast using the old metal, some of which dated from the Middle Ages.
The new bells were first officially rung on 22 November 1952 nearly three years after Lucy’s death and 26 years after the death of her husband.
To commemorate the Diamond Anniversary of the bells, St Mary & St Margaret’s bellringers planted bulbs on the grave of the couple; the bulbs which were kindly donated by Hall’s Garden Centre were, appropriately, bluebells. Robert Hall was pleased to contribute to this event. His family’s business was founded in Castle Bromwich also in 1952 and his parents too are buried in the graveyard. The bells were then rung in memory of the Williams couple.
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