A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



BELL-FOUNDRIES 



In the church tower of Caversfield, formerly 

 in Buckinghamshire but since 1845 included in 

 Oxfordshire, is what is probably the oldest 

 church bell remaining in England ; it may be 

 fairly considered as of ' local ' as opposed to 

 London origin. Its very curious form and 

 inscriptions have been fully described by the 

 present writer elsewhere, 1 but its quite excep- 

 tional interest merits additional notice. The 

 shape is probably unique ; it has a very round 

 shoulder, an extremely long waist, and it is 

 nearly the same size all the way down from 

 shoulder to lip. Ordinarily the greatest thick- 

 ness of a bell is at the sound-bow, diminishing 

 again thence to an edge at the lip ; but in this 

 bell the thickness continues increasing below the 

 sound-bow until it ends abruptly in a flat lip 

 2 in. thick. The diameter at lip is 2of in. ; 

 height to crown 2o in. The large canons add 

 about another 7 in. to the height (5^ in. visible 

 under the stock). 



Round the sound-bow is very legibly inscribed, 

 with a perfectly plain initial cross, in equally 

 plain capitals of Roman character, except only 

 that the G is curved in Lombardic character, 

 the A has a cross-bar on the top, and the 3 is 

 reversed : 



+ INHONORG DEI GT2ANTI 

 LAVRGNCII 



Round the sound-bow is a second inscrip- 

 tion, 1 * which had hitherto baffled all attempts 

 to decipher it. It was scratched in extra- 

 ordinary characters by hand on the cope, not 

 stamped, and is reversed, that is it reads from 

 right to left. It cannot be adequately repro- 

 duced in type, but the intention was apparently 

 as follows : 



HUGLH] GARGATfE] SIBILLAQCUE] UXOR 

 EJUS H[/EC] TIMPANNA (= tympana) 

 FECERUNT ECPONI (=exponi) 



At the beginning of the reign of Henry II, 

 Brian Fitz Count, Lord of Wallingford, the 

 owner of the manor of Caversfield and other 

 estates, entered a religious house ; the king 

 seized the properties and bestowed this manor 

 on Roger Gargate. Ten years later (1164) 

 Roger granted the church of this parish to the 

 Abbey of Missenden, to take effect on the next 

 voidance of the rectory. Browne Willis 2 states, 



1 The Ch. Bells of Bucks. (Jarrold, 1 897). 



u This inscription was erroneously described (torn, 

 cit.) as if on another and now destroyed bell. 



' Hilt, and Antiq. of Town of Buckingham, 165. In 

 the 'Liber Cartarii Monasterii Beate Marie de Mis- 

 sendene ' are transcribed ten deeds concerning this 

 parish, but all dates are omitted. 



on the authority of the Register of Missenden 

 Abbey, that Hugh Gargate confirmed his father's 

 donation, and that Hugh's wife, Sibill de Cavers- 

 field, swore that she would not interfere. 



Hugh seems to have been in possession of the 

 estate by 1207, as his name appears in the Fine 

 Rolls for that year (9 John) ; and he was 

 apparently still living in 1216, as his name 

 appears in the Close Rolls for that year ( 1 8 John). 

 He must have died soon afterwards in or before 

 1219 because Kennett 2 under the date of that 

 year (3 & 4 Hen. Ill) quotes a deed by which 

 Isabel daughter of Hugh Gargate of Caversfield, 

 widow, gave to the church at Burcester part 

 of a croft (the other part having been already 

 given by her sister Muriel) on condition that the 

 canons of that church should receive her and her 

 mother into the prayers of their house for ever. 

 Though the omission of her father's name does 

 not prove that he was dead, it tends to suggest 

 that supposition ; and dated the same year is 

 another deed in which there occurs ' ego 

 Sybilla de Kaversfeld quondam uxor Hugonis 

 Gargat in pura viduitate,' which leaves no 

 doubt as to the fact. An agreement follows 

 between William de Ros and Sibil de Cavers- 

 field and Muriel her daughter, by which Sibil 

 and Muriel did remit to William de Ros the 

 lands which lately belonged to Hugh Gargat in 

 the village of Warmington. Dated 4 Hen. Ill 

 apud Oxon. (= 1220). 



It seems therefore clear that the bell was cast 

 before 1219. 



There is nothing to give any clue to its 

 founder, but in early days the difficulty of car- 

 riage usually necessitated the casting of church 

 bells either on the spot, or at a foundry 

 within some dozen miles, unless water-carriage 

 was available. No village is too small to have 

 been the site of a foundry, and many early bells 

 were turned out by monks in the religious houses, 

 but the three nearest towns to Caversfield are 

 Bicester (Oxon. 2 m. S.), Buckingham (8 m. 

 NE.), and Woodstock (Oxon. 10 m. SW.). 

 There is apparently nothing to connect either of 

 the Oxfordshire towns with this craft (until the 

 1 7th century, when James Keene from Bedford 

 set up a foundry at Woodstock), but Buck- 

 ingham was the site of a flourishing bell-founding 

 business by the i6th century at any rate, and 

 several other bells have to be mentioned, show- 

 ing probably at least three ' local ' foundries not 

 out of range, in the course of the 1 4th century. 



Oddly enough, the next five bells in age in 

 the county to that at Caversfield are by a London 



" Par. Antiq. (ed. I, 1695), 189 ; (ed. 2, 1818), 

 i, 264, 266, 268. 



116 



