The Bells of Melbury Osmond, Dorset скачать в хорошем качестве

The Bells of Melbury Osmond, Dorset

St Osmund’s Church in Melbury Osmond, Dorset, is a charming Grade I listed parish church set in a small, historic village that appears in the Domesday Book and later became closely associated with the Arundell and Ilchester families, whose influence shaped the surrounding estate and the life of the parish over many centuries. The present church building dates from 1745 and is thought to be at least the third church on the site, reflecting a long tradition of worship here, with parish registers surviving from the mid-16th century that record generations of local baptisms, marriages, and burials, including connections to the family of the novelist Thomas Hardy, whose mother lived in the village and was married in this very church. Dedicated to St Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury from 1078 to 1099 and traditionally regarded as a relative of William the Conqueror, the church embodies both Norman roots and later Georgian character; during an 1888 restoration by the 5th Earl of Ilchester a Norman Ham Hill stone font was rediscovered built into the masonry, underlining how medieval fabric survived within the later rebuilding, while Victorian work refreshed the chancel and interior without erasing the building’s earlier story. Today, surrounded by classic thatched cottages and leafy lanes that inspired Hardy’s fictional “Little Hintock” in The Woodlanders, St Osmund’s continues as a peaceful rural church where visitors encounter a blend of Norman, Georgian, and Victorian history in one small space, along with churchyard memorials and architectural details that quietly tell the tale of a Dorset community whose faith and identity have been rooted here for hundreds of years. The tower holds a ring of six bells. The tenor was cast in 1752 by William Elery, the 5th and 2nd were cast in 1954 by Mears & Stainbank, the 4th was cast in 1633 by Richard I Purdue. The 3rd was cast in the same year as the tenor, at the same foundry, but by two founders; William Elery & Thomas Roskelly. This ring of five was hung in 1954 by Mears & Stainbank in a new cast iron frame, at which time the older bells were retuned and all fitted with new fittings. 12 years later, a treble was cast and hung to augment the ring of five to six. In 2024 the bells were overhauled by Nicholson Engineering Ltd of Bridport. The ringing room is accessed by a steep ladder from the vestry. 6 bells, 10cwt in G.