Some time after 1550 a new Gothic church was erected, and in 1700 Bridges records the inscriptions of the five bells then hanging in the tower, some of which bore the name of the
Watts foundry of Leicester. They are also shown by North in his Church Bells of Northamptonshire (1877). In 1738, these five, together with three other bells formerly hanging in the tower of
Catesby Priory, were recast by Thomas Eayre, of Kettering, into a fine ring of eight with a 16+ cwt. tenor. They were rehung in the new tower in 1754, and with the exception of the 6th, which was recast by Joseph Eayre at St. Neots in 1764, they survived intact until 1908, when the tenor, having become badly cracked, was recast with added metal by
John Taylor & Co. In 1915 the 7th fell in two pieces during service ringing one Sunday and this, too, was recast at Loughborough. By 1938 the bells were badly in need of rehanging, and the old oak frame was strengthened and the bells hung on cast iron headstocks and ball-bearings. Another bell, the 3rd, became cracked in 1951 and was recast. Inspection by
Frederick Sharpe in 1960 and later by Taylors revealed that the frame was once again moving considerably, and the bells were consequently not always easy to ring—particularly the tenor. The cause was found to be the ends of the massive supporting beams which had rotted in the walls. The enthusiasm of the local ringers led to the decision to install a frame for ten and to add two new trebles; at the same time it was thought advisable to recast the old treble, 2nd and 4th—the ringers undertaking to pay for two of them. The dedication of the newly restored bells coincided with the visit of the
Central Council of Church Bell Ringers to Northampton in 1965. ==Gallery==