WADHURST BELLS



WADHURST chimes are ringing
Softly day by day,
When the bells are swinging
This is what they say,
Calling from the steeple -
"Come to Church, good people,
Come to Church, good folks, and
Pray ! "

 

Sinner, sadly thinking
On your wilful way,
In contrition shrinking,
Listen - for they say.
Calling from the steeple -
"Come to Church, poor people.
Come to Church, poor souls, and
Pray ! "

 

Happy ones and holy
Passing by to-day,
Lofty ones or lowly
Do not say them nay,
Hear them from the steeple -
“Come to Church, dear people.
Come to Church, dear folks, and
Pray ! "

 

While in joy or sorrow,
Down life's path we stray,
Urging us to borrow
Strength from Christ our Stay,
Calling from the steeple -
"Come to Church, good people,
Come to Church, good folks, and
Pray ! "

 

Then, though nature failing
Clay returns to clay,
And through Grace prevailing
Dawns our Heavenly Day,
O'er God's Acre stealing
With clear voice appealing,
Bells from Wadhurst steeple
Still shall call the people -
"Come to Church, good people,
Come to Church, good folks, and
Pray ! "

 

This very charming poem, which has been specially written for the magazine by a new resident in Wadhurst, will, we feel sure, appeal to all the parishioners. We should like parents and teachers to take it up and teach it to our children, so that “Wadhurst Bells” may ring in their ears all their lives long, no matter where they may roam. Our readers will notice at once that the line “Come to Church, good people,” represents or voices the six bells which form the peal in Wadhurst. The dates of the bells are: “Tenor” 1872; “Treble” and No. 5, 1764; No. 4, 1753; No. 3, 1670; No. 2, 1752.

Nathaniel Johnson and I. Barham were the Churchwardens when the oldest bell, No. 3, was put up in 1670, and Charles II was King. Perhaps some day two more bells will be added and then we shall have the complete “octave,” and will be able to have great variety in the chiming.

From The Wadhurst Parish Magazine May 1908

In May 1955, two more bells were acquired – and one re-cast – to complete the octave.

Our local markets

“Burwash with a Wednesday and Friday market and two fairs (one in May and one in August) had still enjoyed a modest prosperity in the early fifteenth century. Eight stalls in the market paid rent to the Pelhams and tolls from the fairs produced revenues of 3s. in 1406-7 and 4s. 8d. in 1414-15. Thereafter the volume of trade at the fairs plummeted. Just 1d. was received in revenues in 1425-26 and in 1448-49 nothing was received beyond expenses. Trade within the village also declined. In 1443-44 two shops were lying vacant and unoccupied in the market-place and after 1447 the Pelhams received nothing from the lease of their eight stalls. Elsewhere broken and wasted shops were as common as empty market stalls. In 1430 eight shops next to the pillory at Mayfield were broken and unused. Similarly at Wadhurst four shops were unrented for lack of repair and at Framfield two pieces of land next to the cemetery of the church that had been built on with shops were unoccupied.

Although none of these markets survived to become a major market in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, some form of trade did continue. At Burwash the fairs limped along. In the late fifteenth century, between 1473 and 1505, (with ten accounts) revenues averaged 6d. a year. In the early sixteenth century, between 1505-20, an average of 10d. a year was received. Such fairs undoubtedly satisfied local needs for the exchange of livestock, but did not attract a large body of outside traders. At Mayfield and Wadhurst in the 1490s many of the shops and stalls belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury were still vacant or broken and useless. By the 1530s, however, when both the population and the amount of coins in circulation had increased, old shops had been taken up, new shops had been built, and some rents had risen. In addition the Archbishop was able to collect 8s. in rent from shambles, so the markets must have continued to function. It is not known what was sold in the shops, but local inhabitants may have had a choice, either to buy their food directly from the producer at the weekly market, or to utilize the services of a shopkeeper, whose goods were available on a daily basis, but almost certainly at a higher price.”     Mavis Mate: Canadian Journal of History XXXI, April 1996

Note from the Editor
The March newsletter will be available at the meeting on Mar 9. Articles and material for inclusion should be given to any Committee member, or to The Editor at Greenman Farm, Wadhurst TN5 6LE or you can e-mail whs@greenman.demon.co.uk by 14 March please.


Q & A
This should be a regular feature of the Newsletter - the opportunity to resolve problems that have been bothering you for ages: so send in your queries and the answers to earlier problems.
Information Wanted
All answers to the Editor as usual. Interest is growing in the origin of ‘Savage’s Pit’ and the cottages there. The footings of the cottages are believed to date from 1610 - and one of them [no 2] was once a sweet shop. Any advance?