The Bells

- 1549

There were three bells at Bebington in 1549 according to the List of Church Goods in the Deanery of Wirral. These were recast in musical sequence in the seventeenth century and remained in use until the early nineteenth century. There are various references to them in the Church accounts. The first entry records 6/- paid to the ringers on 5 November 1774, and another the following year is for cleaning the bells. In 1785 John Goodacre was paid £1.3.6d for 27lbs of iron for ‘mending the bell’, and three times that amount was spent on the bells the following year. New bell ropes were a further regular expense. The sexton received 10/- for tolling the bell until 1809 when he was awarded an additional sum to sweep the pews and ‘to Toll the Bell every Sunday at least Half an Hour before Morning and Evening service’ and ‘for a few Minutes when the Minister comes to his desk’.