Three new bells were installed in 1840. Of the originals one bell bears the inscription:

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Thos. Swain made me and I am the Tenor of Three. 1757.'

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Thomas Swain may well have been the founder of Upham Bells and indeed inscriptions on some of the bells at Upham Church in Hampshire suggest that they could well have been cast by the same man in or near Alresford in Hampshire :

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"Cast in a field (or large Dell) near Alresford by Mr. Thos. Swaine".

The oldest six bells at Upham have as well as other inscriptions the following :-

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"Thos. Swain (made us all) 1761".

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A second bell in Bisham Church merely carries the date 1604. The third is unmarked. The new bells were installed on 26th October 1840. The old bell-frame has since been replaced by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry by a metal one, and can accommodate a further three bells if required.

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For more information about the bells at Bisham Church, do read Friend Michael Eagleton's account of his climb up the bell tower in Newsletter No. 8.

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Text adapted from H.A.Jones, Burstall & Harper, revised and supplemented by Melissa Frost (2021)

Photographs: Michael Eagleton

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