Oxford City Branch - Other Sounds of Oxford and Beyond

Here you can find audio recordings of (mainly) bells that are not from churches within our own branch. Those of the bells ringing can be heard using an ordinary MP3 player. Those of the bells striking may be used within a sequencer, such as Abel, to simulate the sound of the ring. Getting a perfect recording is always very difficult, but I hope you enjoy listening to these as much as I did in their making. You can, of course, hear more recordings on the Towers page. Where shown, details of the bells come from Frederick Sharpe (1953) The Church Bells of Oxfordshire J Smart & Co Brackley. The hum, prime and nominal frequencies were found from the individual bell recordings. Given note names were calculated from these frequencies using a twelve-tone equal tempered scale [12-TET].

The sundial

The church of St Cross, Holywell, Oxford City was originally built in about 1160. A tower was added in the late C13th and it houses six bells ranging in date from 1620 (the fifth) to 1874 (the treble). They hang from a frame of cast iron installed by Messrs J Taylor & Co. The date painted above the tower's sundial reads A.D. MDCCCIII (1803). A rambling churchyard contains the graves of many famous people, including that of Kenneth Grahame, the author of The Wind in the Willows. Next to the church is Holywell Manor, hosting post-graduate students of Balliol College. The church itself has now also been acquired by Balliol, to become its Historic Collections Centre. The recording of the bells ringing was made on the 24th of September 2008, during a quarter peal of Norwich Surprise Minor by the Oxford University Society ringers. That of the bells striking was taken during the final Sunday service on 12-10-08. Now that the church is deconsecrated, it is not known whether the bells will ever be heard here again.

Designed by the Diocesan architect GE Street, the foundation stone of St Philip & St James was laid down in 1860. It was completed and consecrated in 1862, with the tower and spire being added later by 1866. A half skeleton clock, with four faces, and its bell were added in 1896. The tower itself is probably not sufficiently strong to carry a peal of bells. This church served the then newly-built area between St Giles and the hamlet of Summertown to the north. It was later declared redundant in 1982, to become The Oxford Centre for Mission Studies (OCMS) in 1983.

The town of Witney came to prominence during Saxon times, and expanded again in the years leading up to the Reformation. The Bishops of Winchester had a palace here which they used as a country residence, and the remains of which are to be found at the rear of the parish church of St Mary the Virgin. For many centuries Witney was a pivotal centre for the weaving of blanket cloth due to the waters of the Windrush containing nitrous qualities suitable for the fulling process. Church Green is surrounded by the very impressive presence of the church, the buttercross and the rows of C16th and C17th almshouses. The ring of eight bells always leaves a good impression.

The Oxford City Branch

Holywell, Oxford City Centre

North Oxford

Witney, Oxfordshire