Bells project at the heart of new book about village
A BOOK which reveals the history of a village and its church bells project is now available.
The 40-page book, entitled The Bells of St Bartholomew’s Church, Ancient and Modern, looks at the history surrounding the village of Butterton
It has been written by the chairman of Butterton Historical Group, Maggie Risby and Mike Stone.
The book reveals that the name ‘Buterdun’ comes from ‘Buture’ meaning butter or land which gave rich grazing for cows and ‘dun’ meaning hill.
There is no entry in the Doomsday Book for Butterton under any of the various spellings. It is presumed there was a scattering of cottages or farmsteads in the area which did not constitute a village in 1086 and not enough to be worth reckoning.
Maggie said: “I love researching history. This book starts with an introduction about the village and then goes into the history of the church and the bells project.
“I have boxes of information on many topics regarding the village including farming and mining. My next aim is to gather all the information I have and write a book about the whole village history.”
The book, priced at £5, is available from Maggie telephone 07718 386985 or in St Bartholomew’s Church where the money can be placed in the wall safe.
In the History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White says: “Butterton is a large village, on a steep declivity, nine miles NNW of Mayfield and five miles south of Longnor, comprising within its township and chapelry 388 inhabitants and about 1,500 acres of land, forming a high moorland district, but well enclosed and mostly pasturage.
It has many scattered houses and these belong to about 80 proprietors, who pay small chief rents to The Duke of Devonshire, Lord of the Manor.”
There has been a church on the present site since its foundation in approximately 1254.
Various rebuilds of the church have taken place over the years and sadly only a small part of the original fabric remains.
In 1748 it was recognised that the Chancel was dilapidated and in danger of falling down and following a public meeting there was unanimous consent to its rebuilding using money levied from local inhabitants. The rebuild taking 70 days.
The building of a new church began in 1871 and took two years to complete. It was estimated the rebuild would cost £1,700.
People were asked to subscribe towards the rebuild and over £1,000 was raised by donations, sales of work and village events.
The Duke of Devonshire donated £25 and Sir J Harpur Crewe £5. At the finish, costs had risen to £2,200.
A small spire was originally built atop the tower. This was replaced by the second spire which was added in 1879, as a memorial to Miss Ellen Gaunt, who died in 1876. In 2007 the bells fell silent due to the rotten and unstable nature of the frame which was then over 150 years old. In 2012, at the time of installing a new kitchen and toilet in the base of the bell tower, the bells were removed from the church for safety and taken back to Taylor’s Bell Foundry in Loughborough for inspection prior to any potential future refurbishment and for storage.
This was also the beginning of the project to get the bells reinstalled in the church tower.
A structural survey of the church belfry was carried out and established the building was sound enough for the reinstallation of the original bells and their augmentation to a ring of six bells in a new steel frame.
On January 15, 2018, after the bells were delivered to the church, a Hallowing of the Bells Service took place.
Following installation on June 7, 2018 a Dedication of the Bells Service was held, with the Bishop of Stafford, the Right Reverend Geoff Annas, officiating.