Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers

Congregational, Saltaire

SALTAIRE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BELLS 1870 - 1941
Saltaire will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2003.
This is calculated from the opening of the mill, although the splendid Italianate church building was not completed until 1859. It is well known that this neat village nestling alongside the River Aire some three miles to the north-west of Bradford was conceived and laid out by the eminent Victorian textiles industrialist Sir Titus Salt, to provide housing and social amenities for the workforce at his massive mill complex. The church stands in extensive grounds opposite the main mill entrance, and whilst it cannot compete in size, the breathtaking splendour of its architecture makes it a most imposing structure.
The church is a remarkable building in many respects, not least of which is the fact that six bells were installed. Salt was a Congregationalist, a denomination not usually renowned for even having towers on its churches, let alone bells within them. For the bells to be hung in the manner which allowed them to be rung in the full-circle style now known as Traditional English Change-Ringing was almost unknown within Nonconformist churches, as that style had been developed almost exclusively within The Church of England. Saltaire was one of only two Congregational Churches so equipped; the other being situated a few miles away at Lightcliffe, and Salt was responsible for their installation as well, as he lived there. Indeed, he never lived at Saltaire. Little is known about the six bells at Lightcliffe, save that the church was completed in 1871. Two bells were sold in 1933 in order to pay for repairs to the clock, the remaining four serving as the clock chime until the 1970s. So Saltaire may well have been the first and last Congregational installation.
To complete the picture of other Nonconformist churches equipped for change-ringing in the United Kingdom, one need not travel too far from Saltaire. There are two Unitarian Churches, one in Todmorden, the other in Gorton, Manchester, where rings of eight bells still survive. Hebburn, County Durham, had a Presbyterian Church, St Andrew’s, with six bells. They became unringable many years ago, but the good news is that when the church was closed it became a secular building, and a new ring of six bells was installed into what is now the St Andrew’s Centre. The last example is Port Sunlight in Merseyside. This is of particular relevance to Saltaire, for here is another instance of a model village created by an industrialist, in this case Lord Leverhulme. Christ Church was undenominational, and its eight bells were installed in 1906, some thirty years after Salt’s death. It is interesting to speculate that Leverhulme was inspired by Salt’s example. More recently Christ Church has become part of the United Reformed Church, and will lose its current unique status as the only location within it where ringing is performed when Saltaire’s planned new six bells come into play in time for the 150th anniversary in 2003. When these small numbers of Nonconformist ringing locations are compared with the 6000 or so Anglican installations, their rarity value becomes apparent. A survey of Saltaire tower in 2002 suggested that the bells were installed by Carr of Smethwick, but because this company traded between 1887 and 1916, the dates do not appear to match. Further research suggests that initially two bells cast by Warner of London were installed in 1859, simply to sound the hours in conjunction with the church clock. These bells became number 4 and number 6 when three new bells and one recast bell were added in 1870, this time by William Blews, Gold Medal Bellfounder, of Birmingham, whose business was later purchased by Carr. Despite the grandiose title, Blews’ bells in general were alleged to contain insufficient tin, which adversely affected the tone.
Whether this was true of Saltaire’s bells is not known, (although one of the new 1870 bells had to be either recast or replaced at a later date), but it does seem that they were not especially renowned within the ringing fraternity of their times. The Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers (YACR) was established in 1875. One of its objectives was, and remains, ‘to promote good fellowship amongst ringers and bring all ringers into a closer friendship.’ Despite this, their earlier Annual Reports show no record of Association Meetings there, and Saltaire does not consistently appear, suggesting that there were not always local ringers who were members of the Association in those days. The bells were rung for the first time on 8th June 1870 by a band of ringers from Bradford. The YACR Report 1876/77 names a W. E. London under Saltaire, and his name is shown again in 1881, along with one Fred Kershaw. Addresses were not given at that time. In 1884, Alfred Riley joined the Association. He lived initially at 41 Helen Street, removing later, possibly on marriage, to 77 Victoria Road. Riley seems to have been the one consistent ringer over the years. YACR is unusual among ringing associations in requiring evidence of capability before granting full membership status, and this is regarded as a significant landmark by aspiring practitioners. The fact that Saltaire appears never to have had more than one or two members listed suggests that either its ringers lacked ambition, or the bells were unattractive. Evidence points towards the latter. There was competition close by. St Paul’s, Shipley, was active until after the Second World War. Its bells are still in situ, but are not rung full-circle. Bradford Parish Church (now Cathedral) with ten (now twelve) bells enjoyed an enviable reputation, and other centres of excellence were to be found at Bingley, Bolton (Bradford), Calverley, and Idle. With the exception of Bolton, which had the only full-circle bells ever installed by Shaw of Bradford, which were removed and sold for scrap during the post-Second War period, the remainder are all still regularly rung, and all are very rewarding bells, so it does look as though Saltaire may have been the Cinderella of the district. W. E. London, who appeared under Saltaire in the 1876/77 YACR report is shown listed under Shipley St Paul’s in later editions, along with others of the same surname, so perhaps he and his ringing relatives decamped to where the grass was greener. It is fair to say that Saltaire and Shipley ringers were closely linked, and Bradford ringers also helped out.
Perhaps the most reliable evidence of Saltaire’s apparent unpopularity is the fact that only two peals were ever rung there. A peal in ringing parlance is a set-piece performance for experienced ringers which exploits the mathematical propensity of change-ringing and tests the concentration of the band. Peals on six bells are generally between two and a half to three hours in execution. The first peal at Saltaire took place on 8th December 1888, and took 2 hours and 58 minutes. Now the fact that eighteen years elapsed between installation and first peal suggests that the bells were not easy to ring, even though peal-ringing was less common then than at the present day. The only Saltaire ringer in the band was Alfred Riley, the others being from Bolton, Bradford, and Shipley, so again, it looks as though local ringers were not attracted to remain attached there. The time taken for the peal is ponderous for six bells with the heaviest (tenor) bell weighing in at nine hundredweights (1000 lbs, or 500 kilograms), not heavy in comparison to many other towers, even allowing for the fact that plain bearings would have been used in attaching the bells to the frame. And here may lie the answer.
The tower at Saltaire is more than capable to support heavier bells than those installed, which would have had a combined weight of about two and a half tons (5600 lbs or 2800 kilograms). However, the dynamic forces brought about by six bells swinging full-circle in different directions place enormous pressure on the frame which contains them within the tower. The remains of William Blew’s original frame of 1870 show that it was a timber construction with main beams of 7 inches x 12.5 inches (178 x 318 mm), whilst the connecting side beams were of even smaller section. This frame was then merely hung into wrought iron cradles which were projected into the walls, so frame flexing under dynamic loading would have been considerable. All this, coupled with bells which probably lacked tone, is the likeliest explanation for the apparently lacklustre career of the installation. The second and last peal was rung on 9th June 1889, commencing at 7 a.m. to celebrate Whitsunday Service. Alfred Riley was the conductor. The bells were rung for the last time for the signing of the Armistice in 1918, and by 1922 they were in a bad way, and were inspected by Taylor of Loughborough, the well-known Bellfounders. Taylor reported that the bell-frame needed to be removed and replaced by a stronger structure, and new fittings for the bells were also recommended. The report was not adopted, but this is unsurprising given the economic climate of the time. By the 1930s the YACR report was listing practice ringing only by special arrangement with Alfred Riley, so this suggests wishful thinking about their condition. By 1936 YACR officially declared the bells to be unringable. The 1937/38 report shows Riley as deceased, and this appears to be the last mention of Saltaire in the annals of the Association. It is likely that interest in the bells died along with their last ringer, and they were removed during the Second World War, being sold for scrap for eighty-five pounds.