Lincolnshire Surprise Major at Carshalton, Greater London

In this episode, we head back into South London for the monthly installment of the Surrey Surprise Major practice.

Carshalton is a tranquil area in the London Borough of Sutton, just down the road from Beddington. It is split into 2 sections. The High Street is where all the shops, cafes and pubs are located. South from this is Carshalton-on-the-Hill which is mainly residential. Therefore, all traffic is mostly concentrated on the High Street as it’s the simplest way of driving from Beddington towards Sutton and Mitcham, amongst other places.

All Saints’ Church is situated at the Western end of the High Street, on a fairly steep mound. Directly opposite are the Carshalton Ponds - a variety of biodiversity plus the dog walkers of course! It was mentioned in the Domesday Book however it is now likely lost. Investigation of the archaeology may reveal original Saxon work. The most recent developments were the Organ Gallery & Case, the painting of the Lady Chapel reredos and the painting of the Chancel screen. All finishing touches were made just after WWII.

The tower at All Saints houses a (on-paper) bog-standard ring of 8. Coming in at 11cwt on the scales, and tuned to F#, one would fail to notice the significance of these bells. They do sound quite deep in pitch for an 11cwt set. That being said, the ring here isn’t exactly new: bells 3-8 were cast by Thomas I Mears in 1804; and the treble and second by C&J Oliver in 1845. In 1979, the set was overhauled by Whitechapel which also included retuning. Altogether, they form quite an easy-going octave, hence why our Surprise Major practice is almost always held here. Not only that, I rang my first Quarter of Yorkshire Major at this tower!

This video was recorded on Friday 18th November at the monthly Surrey Association (Northern District) Surprise Major Practice. Ringing ranged from Cambridge and Superlative, to London, Lincolnshire and 3 leads of Bristol. In this video, we hear the bells ringing along to a whole course of Lincolnshire Surprise Major. We even take a tour outside to notice the differences in bell volume as we walk around.

The next video will be at Fulham (not recorded yet at the time of writing)

The Church of All Saints, Carshalton, is affiliated to the Northern District (ND) of the Surrey Association of Church Bell Ringers. (SACBR)