INDUSTRIES 



founder, Michael de Wymbis, by whom no other 

 bells arc known anywhere ; but there is docu- 

 mentary evidence proving that he was founding 

 bells in London in 1290, and dead by 1310.' 

 It seems a long way to have dragged two of his 

 bells all the way from London to Old Bradwell 

 and one to Lee ; the other two are at Bradenham, 

 and there is evidence apparently leaving no doubt 

 that they only came there in the i6th century, 

 probably bought second-hand after the suppres- 

 sion of some religious house not very far off". 

 As Bradenham itself is within a few miles of the 

 Thames, and the original home of the bells may 

 have been still nearer the river, their journey from 

 London would have been comparatively simple. 

 One other 1 4th-century bell in Buckinghamshire, 

 at Tattenhoe, is by a London founder, Peter de 

 Weston, who died in 1 347," but as the bell is quite 

 small, not much over I cwt., its transport would 

 have presented no serious difficulty. 



Within a radius of 1 1 miles from Buckingham 

 as centre, or actually within a radius of under 

 <j miles from Leckhampstead, are no less than 

 nine bells which may be confidently assigned to 

 the 1 4th century; they are probably all of 

 ' local ' origin, and seem to be the work of about 

 five different founders, though by no means 

 necessarily emanating from as many different 

 foundries ; that is to say that two or more 

 founders may have succeeded each other at the 

 same foundry. There is no reason to suggest 

 that any of the bells were cast at Leckhampstead, 

 but 4$- miles thence to the north-west was 

 Luffield Abbey, which is a very likely birthplace 

 for at least some of them. 



Of these nine bells five have the same initial 

 cross in the inscription, so we need not doubt 

 their common origin, and three of the five have 

 the same lettering as well. Possibly the oldest 

 is the treble at Little Linford, inscribed in 

 rudely-formed Lombardic capitals, without any 

 stop or increase of space between the words : 



+AVEMARIAGRACIAPLENA 



The tenor at Newton Purcell, only just over 

 the Buckinghamshire border, in Oxfordshire, 

 has the same inscription, but arranged thus : 



+ AVE : MARVIA : GRACT7IA : PLENA? 



The treble at Barton Hartshorn, in Bucking- 

 hamshire, barely a mile from the last, has : 



+ IACOBVVS : ESTUNOMENtfEIVS 



The shield on the two latter bells is chevronie, 

 but the cheverons are inverted. As this arrange- 

 ment has no existence hcr.ildic.illy it is doubtless 

 merely a trade device of the founder. 



A fourth bell having the same initial cross as 







1 Ch. Belli of Bucks. 6. 

 "Ibid. 9.* 



the last three, but a better-formed lettering, is at 

 Thornton. It bears a rhyming hexameter : 



+ SINT : PRO I ELYA : MICHAEL \ DEVS ! 

 ATQVE : MARIA 



It seems to allude to Elias de Tingewick, who 

 was rector here from 1315 to 1347.* 



The fifth appearance of the above initial cross 

 is on the treble at Radston or Radstone St. Law- 

 rence, Northants (west of Leckhampstead, and 

 within the suggested radius). Mr. North * un- 

 fortunately does not figure the lettering. Its 

 rhyming hexameter has something of a family 

 likeness to the last one : 



+ FIT ! TVA : LAVRENTI : FORMA : 

 CAMPANA: DECENTI 



At Chetwode the single (large) bell also bears 

 a rhyming hexameter of similar character, in 

 lettering very similar to the Thornton set, but 

 smaller, with initial cross to correspond ; a re- 

 markable peculiarity of the inscription being the 

 employment of the initial ' I ' as the second syll- 

 able of a ' spondee,' to be read as ' J ' to avoid 

 making the previous syllable into a false 

 quantity : 



+ ME:TIBI:XP*E:DABAT: I: CHETWODE: 

 QVEM : PERAMABAT 



There were several John Chetwodes to choose 

 from, but one who died c. 1347 gives approxi- 

 mately the expected date. 



The same cross and lettering occur on the 

 saunce bell at Leckhampstead, in which the 

 oddly-blundered Latin inscription is made worse 

 by the letter ' K ' having apparently to do duty 

 for both ' H ' and ' R,' which seem to have been 

 broken or otherwise missing. The curiously 

 long-tailed 'Q' has been divided into three parts, 

 two of which do duty as stops between the 

 words. These facts, and the worn appearance 

 of the remaining letters, indicate that this bell is 

 later than that at Chetwode, but how much so 

 is difficult to determine, though quite possibly it 

 may not be older than the i6th century : 



+ CKESTIT S ME L FIKI S FECET 



The late Mr. E. J. Payne * suggested that the 

 first word was intended to read 'CHESTIL' 

 as an abbreviated form of Chastillon, the family 

 to whom the manor belonged; if so 'L' (and 

 perhaps ' A ') may be added to the category of 

 missing letters ; but the Leckhampstead estate 

 passed out of the Chastillon family before 1398.*" 



4 Browne Willis similarly explains the allusion in 

 Hist, and Anfiq. of Buck. 300. 



Ch. Belli of Nor than ft. 



In a review of ' The Ch. Bells of Bucb.' in Tbt 

 Records of Bucks, viii, 41 (1898). 



Lipscomb, Hist, of Bucks, iii, 24. 



