NOTHING IS QUITE so reminiscent of pastoral England as hearing bells across the meadow on a Sunday evening in summer, pealing out from a distant tower summoning the faithful to worship. The sound has become so popular that it has won a place of affection in the national psyche and is so distinctly identified with the shires that it was once broadcast around the world as a break between radio programmes by the BBC. 

Church bells became common in Europe in the early Middle Ages and were originally rung either to signify the hour or the time for worshippers to go to church, perhaps to attend a wedding, funeral, or other service, and before the age of mass communication they were the only way to gather a village together for special announcements or celebrations and so they also served for secular functions. 

The bells in the tower of the Abbey Church date from the 18th century and consist of a peal of six cast in 1729 by Rudhalls of Gloucester and weighing a total of 61 cwt or three tons. They were commissioned and installed during the incumbency of the Rev William Dodd, who was vicar from 1727-56, and whose name is inscribed on the first bell. His three churchwardens at that time were John Hardwick, Lyon Faulkner and James Lay, and their names can be found on the tenor or great bell in the key of G which is reckoned to weigh 15 cwt. 

There was tremendous excitement in the parish when the bells were installed and ringers were soon recruited to use them, becoming extremely efficient in a short space of time and gaining a reputation for their skill in the district, frequently being called on to visit other churches and ring their bells. In November 1738, they rang the first double peals in the new steeple at Witham-on-the-Hill and in February 1745, they rang the bells of Bourne Abbey to the peals of Crown Bob, College Pleasure and College Treble Bob, a feat rarely accomplished. In November 1799, the Bourne ringers were present at the opening of the musical peal at Glinton steeple where they took a prize and in August 1831, they won first prize at the opening of the fine-toned new peal of bells at Witham-on-the-Hill and subsequently took part in many re-openings of peals at churches in the neighbourhood. 

The Abbey Church bells were completely re-hung in 1805 by Mr Cabors of Strugg's Hill, Sutterton, Lincolnshire, whose work was so well known that he was reputed to have restored many other peals around the country. They were partly re-hung in 1852 but the work was carried out on the wrong principle and the vibration of the bells had a damaging effect on the tower.  

A church vestry meeting was held on 27th October 1864 when a proposal from the churchwardens, Thomas Mawby and Henry Bott, to have them re-hung in a correct manner, was agreed. This time, the work was entrusted to the bell founders Mears and Stainbank of London at a cost of £495, money raised by public subscription, and was completed early the following year. 

Campanology soon became a passionate interest among those who participated and societies were formed at Bourne, Maxey, Witham-on-the-Hill, Glinton and Stamford, arranging exchange visits to ring their respective bells. On Monday 20th January 1873, the associated societies held their annual meeting at Witham when 27 members attended and during the day several peals were rung on the fine-toned bells of St Andrew’s Church and afterwards they all sat down to dinner at the Black Dog Inn at Witham [now demolished] followed by an evening of entertainment with peals on the handbells, singing and recitations. 

The bells at the Abbey Church were last removed in 1926 when the tower fell silent for six months after they were taken by lorry to Croydon for re-tuning and maintenance at Messrs Gillett and Johnson's foundry and a fund was opened to pay for the restoration. The clappers were re-modelled and the bells eventually re-hung on ball bearings in a dust proof housing to make the task of ringers less arduous in the future.  

It was reported at the time of their removal: "Over the years, the bells have been put to various uses, some of their number having done duty as the passing bell, the pancake bell, the labour bell and the curfew bell. From time immemorial, the labour bell was rung at 6 a m in the morning, except during December, and the curfew bell was rung every evening at 8 p m" - both practices which have long fallen into disuse. 

Probably the oldest person to ring the bells was Thomas Taylor, the senior ringer, who died on Saturday 16th February 1889 at the age of 83. He had been a ringer at the church for more than 60 years and could describe graphically events that had taken place there and in the town for the previous 75 years. As a young man in 1836, he was one of the pall bearers at the funeral of Catherine Digby, tenant of the Red Hall who became known as Lady of the Manor, and when he died, a dumb peal was rung on the bells on the evening of his funeral.

Other veterans of the tower were Robert Lattimore, who rang the bells for much of his working life until a few months before his death in 1877 at the age of 83 when a muffled peal was rung in his honour and Robert Sharpe who died in 1912, aged 80, after ringing the bells for half a century and a brass memorial plate in the gallery records his dedication. 

The present ringers' gallery was installed within the south west tower in 1979. Previously, the bells had been rung from the floor but the system was changed to facilitate easier ringing and also to provide an exhibition and book area for the church which now exists underneath while the present team continues with the tradition of participating in regular bell ringing competitions with distinction as well as ringing peals on special occasions such as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics in 2012.