Two new church bells - the first in the country with the royal cyphers of King Charles and Queen Camilla - are ready to ring out today for the Coronation.
Buckingham Palace granted permission for the two bells at All Saints, North Moreton, near Didcot to bear the royal cyphers and will ring for the first time on Saturday.
The new bells were cast at the Royal Eijsbouts bell foundry in the Netherlands, and tuned at Whites of Appleton, a family business, which is the oldest and one of only a few bell hanging companies in the country.
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The bells were hung and installed at the church in April in time for Coronation.
At the Grade I original medieval parish church, the current six bells have a long history spanning the reign of six monarchs from Edward III in the Middle Ages to the Queen.
The bells have been ringing for centuries to mark local events and national moments in history including coronations, royal proclamations and VE Day.
In 2014, a successful project restored and boosted the peal of five bells to six.
An elevated ringing gallery was also installed with a new vestry beneath, oak screen, kitchen and toilet and a new entrance path outside the church.
The 2023 improvement with the two new bells takes the peal of bells to eight, completing the musical octave.
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Rev Jason St John Nicolle, Rector of the church, said: "The congregation and community in North Moreton are delighted with the new bells and their royal significance.
"Church bells are a familiar sound in towns and villages across the country, playing a key part in Christian worship and our local and national history.
"We hope these new bells will be here for hundreds of years to come, continuing to mark events in the community and future coronations.”
Rob Nickless, has been a bellringer at the church since he was a teenager and is now Tower Captain.
He said: "The church bells have been sounding at the centre of the community for many years, I can remember hearing them as a child, calling people to worship and celebrating the life events of local people. It is brilliant that we can continue to do this, and now with an enhanced set of bells creating a much nicer sound that can be heard across the village.”
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Project manager and bell ringer, Richard Loyd, said: "As local bell ringers, it’s a great privilege to be able to celebrate the coronation and ring in the King and Queen with the only bells in the country to bear both royal cyphers. We’re looking forward to keeping the ancient art form of bellringing alive in the village with the complete musical octave and to grow the community of bellringers.”
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Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here.
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