# Hockwold church



## Mikeymutt (Aug 11, 2014)

After seeing the wonderful report by roomthreeonefive on this beautiful church I decided to visit this one and the other one up the road.thanks for the heads up on these two.st Peter's was the parish church of hockwold,till the village joined up with the neighbouring village of Wilton.to form hockwold cum Wilton.the church became redundant and in 1959 was given a grade 1 listing.the church is mainly constructed of Flint.with a slate roof..I actually fell in love with this beautiful place..and stopped taking photos for a little while to sit down and just take in the lovely architecture in here

Coming through the gates is a slightly overgrown graveyard..and the church is in fairly good condition with no vandalism.




A quick look through the door and you get a nice white light inside




Inside the beautiful white walls with the spectacular arches are quite breathtaking










The strange sight of seeing all the butterflies around the bowl.




The beautiful stained glass window.







Looking to the rear of the church




Heading up the belfry is this pile of metal in the middle room.




Finally at the top is the fantastic three bells and oak beams.


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## Onmyown (Aug 11, 2014)

That's a quality mooch fella,nice shots too..


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## roomthreeonefive (Aug 11, 2014)

great set of pics


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## mockingbird (Aug 11, 2014)

Good stuff chap, loving the bell shot, may have to hit this one simply for the bell, this is probably your best set so far matey


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## tumble112 (Aug 11, 2014)

Very impressive, liking this a lot.


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## RichardH (Aug 11, 2014)

Lovely.

According to my knowledgeable bell-ringing friend, it is unusual for a church to retain its bells for long after it has been made redundant, because i) the ringing frame needs to be regularly maintained otherwise it can become very dangerous, and ii) there are always churches on the look-out for bells. So the fact that this church has its full peal (all three of 'em) still intact after more than 50 years makes it particularly worthy of note. I wonder if they were included in the listing citation.


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## flyboys90 (Aug 11, 2014)

Cracking photos thanks for sharing.


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## Mikeymutt (Aug 11, 2014)

RichardH said:


> Lovely.
> 
> According to my knowledgeable bell-ringing friend, it is unusual for a church to retain its bells for long after it has been made redundant, because i) the ringing frame needs to be regularly maintained otherwise it can become very dangerous, and ii) there are always churches on the look-out for bells. So the fact that this church has its full peal (all three of 'em) still intact after more than 50 years makes it particularly worthy of note. I wonder if they were included in the listing citation.



To be honest the bells and the supports were lovely..but the floor did not look to sharp..so just kept my feet on the steps  great info on the bells there though,thank you.


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## Kezz44 (Aug 11, 2014)

Great stuff Mickey!!!


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## UrbanX (Aug 11, 2014)

Nice one, looks a lovely old place!


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## oldscrote (Aug 11, 2014)

that's very nice indeed



RichardH said:


> Lovely.
> 
> . So the fact that this church has its full peal (all three of 'em) still intact after more than 50 years makes it particularly worthy of note. I wonder if they were included in the listing citation.



here's the listing,the bells don't seem to be in the schedule

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-221759-church-of-st-james-hockwold-cum-wilton-n


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## urban-ographer (Aug 11, 2014)

It was without vandalism... how long for though Mikey?!


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## Mikeymutt (Aug 11, 2014)

oldscrote said:


> that's very nice indeed
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I did not expect to see any bells.I was shocked to see them up there to be honest.but they are lovely..shame they are going to waste up there.


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## roomthreeonefive (Aug 11, 2014)

urban-ographer said:


> It was without vandalism... how long for though Mikey?!



hopefully a long time as its in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust


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## RichardH (Aug 12, 2014)

Mikeymutt said:


> I did not expect to see any bells.I was shocked to see them up there to be honest.but they are lovely..shame they are going to waste up there.



The danger is, unless the CCT has a programme of maintenance (they might), the bells aren't going to remain up there for long. If the ringing frame collapses, it may well take the tower with it.

Still, I imagine that the CCT knows what it is doing. It's a shame that the bells are silent, though.


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## Landie_Man (Aug 12, 2014)

Gorgeous! Permission Visit?


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## Mikeymutt (Aug 12, 2014)

Landie_Man said:


> Gorgeous! Permission Visit?



No..But open to the public


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## Dirus_Strictus (Aug 12, 2014)

RichardH said:


> The danger is, unless the CCT has a programme of maintenance (they might), the bells aren't going to remain up there for long. If the ringing frame collapses, it may well take the tower with it.
> 
> Still, I imagine that the CCT knows what it is doing. It's a shame that the bells are silent, though.



According to the last Engineer's Survey the bells and associated support timbers are seemingly not the major concern. The huge amount of rising damp within the stone structure is probably going to be the source of any eventual structural collapse.

It should also be noted that these bells were not hung for 'change ringing' as there is no evidence of the frames being ever fitted with wheels - the bell ropes are attached to a straight wooden beam


RichardH said:


> The danger is, unless the CCT has a programme of maintenance (they might), the bells aren't going to remain up there for long. If the ringing frame collapses, it may well take the tower with it.
> 
> Still, I imagine that the CCT knows what it is doing. It's a shame that the bells are silent, though.



According to the last Engineer's Survey the bells and associated support timbers are seemingly not the major concern, the huge amount of rising damp within the stone structure is probably going to be the source of any eventual structural collapse.

It should also be noted that these bells were not hung for 'change ringing' as there is no evidence of the frames being ever fitted with wheels - the bell rope is attached to a straight wooden truss that is fixed at right angles to the pivot, which passes through the middle of truss assembly. When they were rung the bells just swung to and fro, there was no means of completely inverting the bells and resting them mouth uppermost. Thus the forces that were put upon the structure were not the same.

The bells are actually specifically included in the listing by just being in situ in 1959. English Heritage makes specific note and conditions that in any Grade 1 or 2* Listed Church that has an early belfry, complete with original bells, framework and floors, these items must remain and not be altered or removed.


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## Mikeymutt (Aug 12, 2014)

Dirus_Strictus said:


> According to the last Engineer's Survey the bells and associated support timbers are seemingly not the major concern. The huge amount of rising damp within the stone structure is probably going to be the source of any eventual structural collapse.



I am surprised they have not removed the bells then.such beautiful things they are as well.would be a shame for a collapse and these get ruined too.i suppose it would cost the church a lot to prevent the damp rising and to cure what damage has occurred.


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## Dirus_Strictus (Aug 13, 2014)

Mikeymutt said:


> I am surprised they have not removed the bells then.



I have edited my post to give one good reason why they remain - you can get more info on the part of the EH site that mentions church bells etc. In doing the edit I seem to have 'doubled up' on the first part of my text, senility finally setting in!!


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## Mikeymutt (Aug 13, 2014)

Thank you.i have now read your edited text.thanks for filling the gaps in.i now understand why they remain situ.


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## RichardH (Sep 8, 2014)

Dirus_Strictus said:


> It should also be noted that these bells were not hung for 'change ringing' as there is no evidence of the frames being ever fitted with wheels - the bell rope is attached to a straight wooden truss that is fixed at right angles to the pivot, which passes through the middle of truss assembly. When they were rung the bells just swung to and fro, there was no means of completely inverting the bells and resting them mouth uppermost. Thus the forces that were put upon the structure were not the same.



Ah, thanks. When I see an English church, I tend to automatically think "change-ringing". Definitely less of a concern if they are just for chiming, but still sad that they are mute.


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