Whereabouts did the murder take place? The churchyard? the church? somewhere in the village?
If the sexton’s tools were used, who had access to them? (“Driver,” apparently, but who else?)
Quite a lot of questions, thought his lordship, and some of them unanswerable till outside reports came in. The matter of the bell-mottoes could, of course, be looked into at once. He sought the Rector and asked whether he could, without too much trouble, lay his hand on Woollcott’s History of the Bells of Fenchurch St. Paul, which he had once spoken about. The Rector thought he could, and after he had hunted through all his study shelves and enlisted the aid of Mrs. Venables and Emily, the book was in fact discovered in a small room devoted to the activities of the Clothing Club (“and how it could have got there. I cannot imagine!”). From this work Wimsey distilled the following facts, interesting to archaeologists, but not immediately suggestive of anything in the way of corpses or emeralds:
Batty Thomas (No. 7. Weight 30½ cwt. Note: D). The oldest bell in the ring in her present form, and older still in her original metal. First cast by Thomas Belleyetere of Lynn in 1338. Re-cast, with additional metal by Abbot Thomas of Fenchurch (fclass="underline" 1356–1392) in 1380. (This abbot also built the tower and the greater part of the existing nave, though the aisle windows were enlarged in Perpendicular style by Abbot Martin circ. 1423.)
Inscriptions:
Shoulder — NOLI + ESSE + INCREDVLVS + SED + FIDELIS +
Waist — O SANCTE THOMA.
Soundbow — ABBAT. THOMAS. SETT. MEE. HEARE. AND. BAD. MEE. RINGE. BOTH. LOVD. AND. CLEER. 1380.
No record of any other bells at this time, though there was probably at least one other. We know, however, that in the reign of Elizabeth there was a ring of five bells in D of which
John (No. 3. Weight 8 cwt. Note: A) was the original treble. She bears the name of her founder, John Cole, an itinerant founder of the period.
Inscription:
Soundbow — JHON. COLE. MAD. MEE. JHON. PRESBYTER. PAYD. MEE. JHON. EVAGELIST. AID. MEE. MDLVII.
Jericho (No. 4. Weight 8½ cwt. Note: G) was the No. 2 of the old peal, and her maker seems to have thought aggressively well of her.
Inscription:
Shoulder — FROM. IERICHO. TO. IOHN. AGROAT. Yr. IS. NOE. BELLE. CAN. BETTER. MY. NOTE. 1559.
Of the original No. 4, nothing is known. The original No. 3 (F sharp) was a poor bell, flat in pitch and weak in quality. In James I’s reign, this bell was further flattened by the grinding away of its inner surface so as to produce some sort of approximation to F natural, and the great tenor bell was added to make a ring of six in C.
Tailor Paul (No. 8. Weight 41 cwt. Note: C).
A very noble bell of superb truth and tone. She was cast in the Bellfield by the church. (See parish records.)
Inscriptions:
Shoulder — PAVLE + IS + MY + NAME + HONOVR + THAT + SAME +
Soundbow — NINE + TAYLERS + MAKE + A + MANNE + IN + CHRIST + IS + DETH + ATT + END + IN + ADAM + YAT + BEGANNE + 1614
The bells survived the tumults of the Great Rebellion, and in the later part of the century, when the fashion for change-ringing set in, a new treble and second were added to bring the number up to eight.
Gaude (Treble. Weight 7 cwt. Note: C). The gift of the Gaudy family, she bears a “canting” motto.
Inscription:
Soundbow — GAVDE. GAUDY. DNI. IN. LAVDE. MDCLXVI.
The No. 2 of that period was known as Carolus, having been given in honour of the King’s Restoration. This bell, however, was cracked in the 18th century, as a result of the abominable practice of “clappering” the two smallest bells for occasional services, so that the ring was again reduced to six, of which No. 5 (F natural) had always been unsatisfactory. In the first half of the 18th century (that period of ecclesiastical apathy) the worm was allowed to get into the timbers of the bell-cage, as a result of which No. 6 (the Elizabethan No. 4) fell and was broken. Nothing was done until the ’eighties, when an energetic High-Church rector called public attention to the bad state of the bells. Subscriptions were raised, the framework of the bell-cage was repaired and put in order, and three bells were re-cast:
Sabaoth (No. 2. Weight 7¼ cwt. Note: B) was the gift of the Rector.
Inscriptions:
Shoulder — SANCTUS. SANCTUS. SANCTUS. DOMINUS. DEUS. SABAOTH.
Soundbow — RECAST BY JOHN TAYLOR OF LOUGHBOROUGH 1887.
Dimity (No. 6. Weight 14 cwt. Note: E) was given in memory of Sir Richard Thorpe, who died in 1883.
Inscriptions:
Shoulder — RECAST BY JOHN TAYLOR OF LOUGHBOROUGH 1887.
Soundbow — IN. PIAM. MEMORIAM. RICARDI. THORPE. ARMIGERI. NUNC. DIMITTIS. DOMINE. SERVUM. TUUM. IN. PACE.
Jubilee (No. 5. Weight 9½ cwt. Note: F natural). The funds for this bell were raised by public subscription in commemoration of the Queen’s Jubilee, Inscriptions:
Shoulder — JUBILATE. DEO. OMNIS. TERRA.
Waist — RECAST. IN. THE. YEAR. OF. THE. QUEEN’S. JUBILEE. BY. JOHN. TAYLOR. AND. CO. E. HINKINS. AND. B. DONNINGTON. CHURCHWARDENS.
Wimsey puzzled his head for some time over this information, but without very much result. The dates, the weights and the mottoes — was there anything here that could serve as a guide to buried treasure? Batty Thomas and Tailor Paul had been particularly mentioned, but try as he would, for him they had neither speech nor language. After a time he gave up his calculations. Possibly there was something about the bells themselves that did not appear in Mr. Woollcott’s work. Something written or carved on the timbers, possibly. He must go up and look some time. It was Sunday morning. As he lifted his head from his calculations, he heard the bells begin to ring for matins. He hastened out in the hall, where he found his host winding the grandfather clock.
“I always wind it when the bells begin on a Sunday morning,” explained Mr. Venables, “otherwise I might forget. I fear I am none too methodical. I hope you will not feel obliged to come to church, merely because you are our guest. I always make a point of telling our visitors that they are quite free to do as they wish. What time do you make it? Ten thirty-seven — we will put the hands at 10.45. He always loses about a quarter of an hour during the week, you see, and by putting him a little forward each time he is wound, we strike a happy mean. If you will just remember that he is always fast on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, right on Wednesdays, and slow on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, you will find him a very reliable guide.”