The old church books, extracts from which will be given subsequently, contain many entries of sums paid for rushes to strew the pews and aisles, a custom existing here as late as 1813. In the tower is a peal of six bells, with the inscriptions:—
1st Bell.—"Prosperity to all our Benefactors. A. R. 1741.
2nd. " —"Peace and good Neighbourhood. A. R. 1741.
3rd. " —"Prosperity to this Parish. A. R. 1741.
4th. " —"When us you ring
We'll sweetly sing. A. R. 1741.
5th. " —"Able Rudhall
Cast us all. M. T. Gloucester. 1741."[1]
The 6th bell was recast by G. Mears and Company, of London, in 1865, at the sole expense of the Rev. T. Clarke, and is inscribed:—"T. Clarke, M.A., vicar; W. Gaulter, J. T. Bailey, W. Jolly, J. Whiteside, churchwardens." The original inscription was—"Robert Fishwick, John Wilkinson, William Cookson, James Hull, John Moore, churchwardens."
About thirty years since the roof of the church was altered and renewed. Notwithstanding the fact that the churchyard has been in constant use for so many centuries very few emblems of antiquity, beyond occasional coins of the Roman era, have ever been discovered in it, and at present, unlike most burial grounds of great age, no specimens of raised letters are to be seen amongst the numerous gravestones, the oldest of which still legible, intimates the resting place of Richard Elston, and has the date 1719. At a short distance, and assisting to flag a side pathway to the south of the church, is another stone, covering the grave of "Richard Brown, of Great Marton, who died the third day of April, 1723"; but neither this nor the foregoing one have any interest beyond their antiquity. The ancient practice of tolling the Curfew-bell is still continued in the winter evenings from the 29th of September to the 10th of March, whilst a pancake bell is rung at 12 o'clock on each Shrove Tuesday.[2]
- ↑ Mr. Rudhall, as we learn from the following entry in the registers of the
30 men of Kirkham, was in business at Gloucester:—"1749, April 14. Paid old
Mr. Rudhall for coming from Gloucester to take notes of the bells when the 2nd.
was recast, £3 3s. 0d." - ↑ The Pancake Bell is usually rung by an apprentice of the town as a signal for his confreres to discontinue work for that day, but strange to say on a late occasion not one apprentice could be found in the whole of Poulton, and consequently the duty was performed by the ordinary bell-ringer.
