This morning at five o’clock the steeple of All Saints’ church fell
down. An act of parliament passed the 22d May, 1775, to unite the
service in St. Vigor’s church, and to enable the vicar and churchwardens
to sell the materials and the bells, towards repairing the church of St.
Vigor’s--the amount was 150_l._ 0_s._ 6_d._ The two broken bells were
sold towards the expenses; the other three, with the two of St. Vigor’s,
and the saints’ bell, were new cast by E. Arnold at St. Neot’s Hunt’s,
and six new bells were put up on the 9th of May, 1776. The subscription
amounted to 141_l._; the bells cost 262_l._ 2_s._ 3_d._; the frames
45_l._, the six new ropes 1_l._ 15_s._; making together the sum of
308_l._ 17_s._ 3_d._
The poor inhabitants were so attached to the old bells, that they
frequently watched them in the evening, lest they should be carried away
and sold; for the broken bells lay among the ruins of All Saints’
church. At last their fears subsiding, they neglected their watching,
and the churchwardens set a waggon in Monk’s barn, (hard by,) and
carried away two of them in the night, delivering them to the Cambridge
waggon for St. Neot’s, and returning before morning, which occasioned
the following
_Ballad._
There are some farmers in Fulbourn town,
They have lately sold what was not their own;
They have sold the bells, likewise the church,
And cheat the poor of twice as much.
And O! you Fulbourn farmers O!
Some estate there was left, all for the poor,
They have robb’d them of half, and something more,
Such dirty tricks will go hard on their sides.
For the d--l will have them, and singe their hides.
And O! you Fulbourn farmers O!
Before the bells they could be sold,
They were forc’d to swear, as we’ve been told,
They forswore themselves--then they cried.
For this, my boys, we shall be tried.
And O! you Fulbourn farmers O!
There is old Twig, and young Twig--the whining dissenter,
Says one to the other, this night we will venture;
And says little Gibble-Gabble, I long for to go.
But first I will call my neighbour Swing-toe:
And O! you Fulbourn farmers O!
In the dead of the night this thievish crew
Broke into the church, as other thieves do,
For to steal the bells and sell them all,
May the d--l take such churchwardens all;
And O! you Fulbourn farmers O!
This ballad is said to have been the production of one William Rolfe, a
labourer. It was probably written soon after the act passed. The new
peal was brought home on the 9th of May, 1776, so that it was not a year
from the passing of the act to the casting of the bells.
After the bill had been perused by counsel, Mr. Edward Hancock, the
rector’s churchwarden, conducted it through both houses of parliament
without the expense of a solicitor; sir John Cotton, one of the members
for the county, forwarding it in the different stages through the House
of Commons. So earnest were the populace about the bells, (when they
were satisfied they were to have a new peal of six,) that after they
were loaded they drew them a furlong or more before the horses were put
to the waggon. The tenor was cast in _G_ sharp, or old _A_. Mr. Edmund
Andrews Salisbury rode on the great bell, when it was drawn up within
the steeple, and his was the first death this bell was rung for; he was
buried 8th July, 1776. The motto on this bell is--
“I to the church the living call--
And to the grave I summon all.”
Mr. Charles Dawson was the author of the complete peal of _Plain Bob_,
called “_The Fulbourn Surprise_” with 154 bobs, and two singles, and 720
changes. The peal was opened December 7, 1789.
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