Iden Church Bells

Iden Church Bells The bells of Iden All Saints Church date from the 1700s, In order keep them ringing now and for future generations we need to carry out major restoration work.

We will be applying for grants but hope the community will support us.

26/10/2025

As I arrived at Iden Church this morning some of the other ringers were already raising the bells so they would be ready to ring. You will see two people were jointly trying to get the tenor (the heaviest bell) up. And the three was also being raised. Unfortunately after a lot of effort they all had to give up.
Fortunately with the help of expert ringer from Wittersham they were all eventually raised and we were able to ring all six bells for the Sunday service.
The bells desperately need restoration to make life a bit easier for the people that ring them and so we don't have to rely on the most experienced ringers to be able to do so.

This is the sign of the pub in Iden, just down the road from the church. Pubs that are called The Bell were often origin...
06/10/2025

This is the sign of the pub in Iden, just down the road from the church. Pubs that are called The Bell were often originally named due to their proximity to a.church with bells. We don't know definitely if this was the case in Iden but there were definitely close connections between the church and pub. It is said that monks used the original pub building to brew beer in and it is rumoured that there is a tunnel between the church and the pub.

Iden village pub has been closed for a couple of years while the owners try and sell it. It is now under threat of permanent closure as the owners try to get planning permission to change its use to a dwelling house. This is in spite of having had a fair offer from The Bell at Iden Community who want to buy it. There are a few days left to register your comments about the application with Rother District Council. If you would like to help Iden save it's pub please follow the link here or go to the link in the bio by 10th October https://planweb01.rother.gov.uk/OcellaWeb/planningDetails?reference=RR/2025/1411/P&from=planningSearch

Our fundraising efforts to restore the bells of Iden Church were halted as the church needed a new boiler and that took ...
28/09/2025

Our fundraising efforts to restore the bells of Iden Church were halted as the church needed a new boiler and that took priority ☹️ We have however continued to practice ringing at other local churches and now with the help of other expert ringers from Rye, Wittersham and Stone, will be ringing one Sunday a month for the service in Iden.
Did you hear us this morning?

We have a rather bedraggled tail end rope that needs fixing so we can ring for the Easter service. Fortunately bits of r...
09/04/2025

We have a rather bedraggled tail end rope that needs fixing so we can ring for the Easter service. Fortunately bits of rope don't cost too much and I'm learning to splice ropes. See second picture for my latest practice attempt...I think I'm getting the hang of it!

This is inside the bell chamber at the top of the tower at Iden All Saints Church. You can see a part of each of six the...
21/01/2025

This is inside the bell chamber at the top of the tower at Iden All Saints Church. You can see a part of each of six the wheels here. There is one for each bell in the tower. When the bellringers pull their ropes the wheels turn and make the bells move (via the bit attached to the top of the bell called the headstock). The bells are big and it's pretty crowded in there with all the bell fittings. One of the bells is raised above the others as there wasn't space at the same level. Bellringer, Paul Philip, is balancing on one of the headstocks for scale.

The last time any of these mechanisms had any serious work done on them was over 100 years ago. They need major restoration now to prevent them falling silent and to keep them going for another 100 years.
We will be launching a crowdfunder soon. Please consider donating

25/12/2024

The bell ringing out on Christmas Day. Merry Christmas Everyone. With Paul Philip Andy Lane
Thanks to Alice for filming.

Andy Lane here showing off the repaired clapper for the number two bell. All painted and shiny, it looks like new, than...
22/12/2024

Andy Lane here showing off the repaired clapper for the number two bell. All painted and shiny, it looks like new, thanks to . The broken turning blocks and other fittings were repaired too and Andy and Paul fixed the clapper into the bell a few days ago. Listen out for it ringing along with the other bells on Christmas Day.

01/12/2024

Practice night in Rye. This is Paul Philip practicing Plain Hunt on the treble (the lightest bell). In plain hunting you change your place in the round every time you ring and everyone else is changing place at the same time. You can hear it change from normal rounds to Plain Hunt halfway through this clip. Sounds complicated? Well it is... but apparently it all becomes clear with practice!
Rye was the first place we went to learn to ring bells. Thanks especially to Kevin (Tower Captain) who was one of the people who initially taught us newbies from Iden how to safely ring a bell and keep control of the rope. Frank, tower captain at Appledore, who is ringing here too, has helped us with practice so much, as I mentioned in a previous post. Also in this clip are Alan and Carl who are excellent ringers and often help out in guiding us when we go wrong! Also ringing here is Tom, a young ringer who started learning well after we did but is now way ahead of us in his level of skill. Young minds learn fast.......if only we had started when we were younger!

01/12/2024

Christmas is coming!

The sad sound of a bell without a clapper! (If it was ringing I would have needed earmuffs to film this). You can also s...
15/11/2024

The sad sound of a bell without a clapper! (If it was ringing I would have needed earmuffs to film this). You can also see Paul Philip holding the actual clapper that fell out while we were ringing a few months ago..... being.made of cast iron it is rather heavy!..... and all the fittings that hold it in the bell.
Today the 'clapped out' clapper and it's fittings were taken away by Simon of Taylor's Bellfoundry to be fixed. This will just be a temporary fix until we raise the money for the major works that the bells need, but at least meanwhile the number two bell will no longer be mute!

The clapper of one of the bells at All Saints Church Iden. This clapper is over 100 years old and fortunately is still g...
03/11/2024

The clapper of one of the bells at All Saints Church Iden. This clapper is over 100 years old and fortunately is still going strong. Some of the other clappers haven't faired so well. The one in our number 2 bell completely broke a few months ago and others are looking seriously corroded. Swipe to see. We are hoping they will last until we are able to raise the money to get the restoration work done.

28/09/2024

The Eastern District of the Sussex County Association of Change Ringers had their monthly open practice near us today. I met up with them at the church in Beckley and then went on to Peasmarsh. (They had originally planned to come to Iden too, but changed their minds when they heard about the state of our bells and how difficult they are to ring at the moment). Both churches have six bells that are rung from the ground. This is some of the association people ringing at Peasmarsh. The bells are lighter than Idens and so have a higher pitch. Looking forward to the day when the Iden bells can be regularly rung like this.
Thanks to SCACR Eastern District for organising the practice.( SCACR Facebook Group )

Address

All Saints Church, Church Lane, Iden
Rye
TN317XD

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