Tower History
The bell tower stands on the south east side of the church. Beneath the ringing chamber is the church's organ. The original nine bells were donated by Lt-Col John May, a great benefactor to the town of Basingstoke. A brass plaque in the Memorial Chapel at the base of the tower records this gift. In March 2016 a new tenth bell (cast by the Whitechapel Bellfoundry) was added to mark the centenary of the casting of the original bells.
For information about the history, art and architecture of All Saints' Church, visit this website
The original bells were cast in 1916 for All Saints' by Mears & Stainbank of London (latterly the Whitechapel Bellfoundry). The tenor was 3' 6¾" in diameter and weighed over 11cwt (11. 3. 22) The original records of Mears & Stainbank show that Lt-Col May paid for the bells and that The Revd W Boustead placed the order for a "ring of eight bells with the note above". The bells cost £444 and with the frame, equipment and fitting the final bill was £696. The bells were re-hung on ball bearings in 1980 by Eayre and Smith, and again in 2000 by the Whitechapel foundry when they were tuned.
For more details about the original bells, see The Nine Bells
For the centenary of the All Saints' bells casting in 2016, the ringers made a proposal to augment the existing nine bells to ten by the addition of a new treble (lightest) bell. The ringers felt that the additional bell would give more scope for teaching new ringers as well as offering new possibilities on higher numbers.
The project cost around £25,000 and was made possible through a number of donations and grants. The new bell was cast on 22nd January 2016 and a special dedication service was held on Sunday 6th March 2016. Whites of Appleton started working in the tower the following day and the ring of ten bells was heard for the first time on Friday 11th March. The first recorded performance on the ring of ten was a quarter peal of Grandsire Caters, rung by members of the Sunday service band.