The Bells of Goring, South Stoke and Streatley

The Goring and Streatley Bellringers ring at St Thomas of Canterbury in Goring-on-Thames (RG8 9DR) and St Mary's in Streatley (RG8 9HU). The What3Words locations of the towers are ///condensed.fool.irrigated (Goring) and ///lipstick.nozzle.drumbeat (Streatley).
The South Stoke Bellringers ring at St Andrew's in South Stoke (RG8 0JS). The What3Words location is ///countries.gourmet.crafts. (South Stoke)

Sunday Service ringing is from 8:55 to 9:30 a.m on Sunday morning at Goring-on-Thames, from 10:40 to 11:15 a.m at Streatley or from 10:45 to 11:10 am at South Stoke. We don't ring at every church every Sunday, so please email the relevant tower contact in advance to check if there is ringing planned.

Practice Nights are Wednesday at Goring, from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m., and Thursday at South Stoke, from 8:00 to 9:00 pm.

Visitors are always welcome, whether you’re an experienced ringer or would like to find out more about bellringing! For more information about visiting us, please contact via email Josie Irving (Goring), Andrea Gilbert (Streatley) or Rob (South Stoke).

Peals and Quarter Peals

Records of many of our recent (and not-so-recent) peals and quarter peals can be found on BellBoard ( Goring, South Stoke and Streatley ) and in the Felstead peals database ( Goring, South Stoke and Streatley). Nether source is necessarily complete and so may exhibit omissions compared to the other.

Oxford Diocesan Guild

Our churches are members of the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers. This not only affords involvement in a wider community of ringers but brings the possibility of advice and training in a number of areas, including bell maintenance, belfry safety, safeguarding and general progression in the art of bell ringing through courses and special training events. As part of regular training, practices are organised within each of the 15 branches of the guild, catering for a wide range of ringing abilities.

History of the Bells

Goring

The details of the current ring of eight bells can be found in Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Goring was originally a ring of six bells (Tenor 6-2-24) until 1929.
The details of the original ring of six are :

Bell	Bellfounder and date
Tenor	by Ellis Knight of Reading in 1626
5^th	by Ellis Knight of Reading in 1650
4^th	by Richard de Wymbish of London late 13th century
3^rd	probably by John Saunders of Reading early 16th century
2^nd	by Ellis Knight of Reading in 1624
Treble	by John Warner of London in 1889

The fourth is preserved and hangs on the west wall of the nave, and the third hangs in the tower and is used for chiming only.

South Stoke

The details of the current ring of six bells can be found in Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. The current ring is made up as follows, up until 1920 it was a ring of 5 only.

Bell	Weight	Diameter	Bellfounder and date
Tenor	9-2-0	38ins	Cast by Henry Knight in 1609
5^th	7-0-0	33ins	Cast by Henry Knight in 1616
4^th	6-0-10	31:5ins	Cast by Mears and Stainbank in 1881 to replace an earlier bell from 1716 cast by William Higgs & William Claxson
3^rd	5-1-0	29:5ins	Cast by Ellis Knight in 1633
2^nd	4-3-0	27:5ins	Cast by Henry Knight in1622
Treble	4-0-1	26:5ins	Cast by Mears & Stainbank in 1920

Streatley

The details of the current ring of six bells can be found in Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Some of these bells have been recast, as detailed in this table.

Bell	Weight	Note	Bellfounder	Cast	Recast
Tenor	8-1-26	Ab	Cast by Ellis Knight I	1649	-
5^th	6-1-8	Bb	Cast by Mears and Stainbank	1887	-
4^th	5-1-18	C	Cast by Richard Phelps	1737	1978
3^rd	3-2-23	Db	Cast by Henry Knight II	1661	1978
2^nd	3-1-27	Eb	Cast by Ellis Knight I	1649	-
Treble	3-3-20	F	Cast by Mears and Stainbank	1738	1936