Bells, St.Nicholas Church, Canewdon, Essex - 15th September 2024

Stuart Bowditch Podcasts

By a strange set of circumstances I found my self sitting, quite near to the village lock-up and stocks, outside Canewdon Church on a sunny Sunday morning. The bells were ringing for quite some time but just as I was relaxing in to reverie, a couple of things happened. A light aircraft was passing over head, and whilst that's nothing new in that area, the drone of the aircraft slightly descended to match the key of a new peal. The peal also sounded more mechanical and drone-like in itself and less like it was played by the campanologists inside. Lasting not quite one and half minutes it was quite possibly the most unique bell peal I have ever heard. I was quite amazed by it and also by the in-tune aircraft. After a pause, the bell ringers started again and whilst less interesting I have included a portion of it here as the recording features my first ever kestrel at about 7m50s. What a lovely morning and at a church reputed to be one of the most haunted places in Essex with an association with 'witches and devilry'. There is even a local legend, that I remember as a child, that if you run around the church anti-clockwise on Halloween, the Devil himself will appear.