All Saints Church, Renhold, Bedfordshire, England
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The Hand Bells

The set of 25 very fine handbells were donated to the Church by Captain Frederick Polhill Turner in the 19th Century so that the Church Bell Ringers could earn money, which had been paid previously to them by Frederick Polhill Turner, for ringing at Church Services, weddings and funerals.

On the day that a resident of the village died a single Church Bell would toll the age of the person – for a man the bell would toll for every year of his age, and for a woman half her age.

Any money, which the handbell ringers could raise from “performance”, could be kept by them in lieu of the wages previously paid by Frederick Polhill.

Originally the handbells were kept on wooden pegs in the ringing chamber of the Bell Tower, where practice sessions took place. The box of handbell music, kept in the vestry, has traditional carols, hymns and popular songs from the First World War.

During the 1920s the handbells were stolen. They turned up in W H Peacock’s Auction and were recognised by Mr Harry Dalton of Wyboston, Bedfordshire, who bought them and returned them to Renhold Church. In the 1970s Peter Joyce, Churchwarden, paid for them to be refurbished, tuned and leathered by Mears and Slainbanks of Whitechapel, London.

The handbell Team practice sessions are held in the Chapter House of Renhold Church.