St Alfege open for others
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Whitechapel Bell Foundry records show that there were four bells in the tower of St Alfege in 1552, the tenor (the largest) having a diameter of 43" and weighing about 13 hundredweight. There is little further information about the bells until the church was rebuilt (between 1712 and 1714).
The tower now contains a ring of 10 bells hung in a heavily- constructed oak frame that dates from 1731. Eight bells were originally cast by Richard Phelps in 1731 - the original 4th bell bore an inscription,
"The Gift of our gracious Queen Caroline, 1731,
R Phelps fecit"
- and two more in 1734. The new tenor bell then weighed 23 hundredweight and was in the key of D. In 1954 the Whitechapel Foundry was due to clean, tune and rehang all the bells but after cleaning six bells were found to be cracked, and it was decided to recast all the bells except for the tenor (which had been recast in 1824 by Thomas Mears II).
In the ringing chamber, an early Peal Board dated 1 December 1732 records the names of the eight ringers who, "in the Eighth Month of their Practice" completed a peal of 5040 Grandsire Triples in three hours and 9 minutes.
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