Cherington Bells

Cherington Bells tells the story described in Church-lore Gleanings.

... from about 1830 when the treble bell at Cherington, Gloucestershire, was stolen and set up in Avening Tower to make a ring of six. The culprits were discovered, convicted, and punished. A vulgar error prevailed in the locality that if a bell could be taken and put up without the offender being caught in the act, there was no redress. The following song used to be sung in the village in memory of this event

Lyrics:
Those Cherington bells, those Cherington Bells,
What a sad tale their jingling tells !
Alas ! their now imperfect chime
Proclaims our folly and our crime.

Our hours of sport have passed away,
Our hearts now droop that once were gay,
For we are confined in these dreary cells,
For taking one of the Cherington bells.

Little was it supposed by us,
The matter would have ended thus,
And doubtless all would have been well
Had we restored the furtive bell.

But we, alas ! fools as we were,
Carried the silly joke too far ;
And this famed bell, tradition says,
Belonged to us in former days.

And was purloined from Avening Tower
A century ago or more,
And thence convey'd to Cotswold Hills,
And placed among the Cherington bells,

This absurd story we believed,
But we're egregiously deceived,
For its inscription plainly tells
'Twas always one of the Cherington bells.

Sorry we are for what we've done,
We're paying dearly for our fun ;
Oh, that we were out of the cells,
We'd ne'er again take Cherington bells.

Martin Graebe

In 2008 Martin Graebe edited the original words and set them to music.

Lyrics:
Our hours of sport are passed away,
Our hearts now droop, that once were gay,
For we are confined in these dreary cells,
For taking one of the Cherington bells.
Little was it supposed by us
The matter would have ended thus,
And doubtless all would have been well
Had we restored the fugitive bell.

Chorus:
Cherington bells, those Cherington bells,
What a sad story their jingling tells!
Alas! their now imperfect chime
Proclaims our folly, and our crime.

But we alas! fools as we were,
Carried the silly joke too far;
As this famed bell, tradition says,
Belonged to us in former days.
And was purloined from Avening Tower
A century ago or more,
And thence conveyed to Cotswold hills
And placed among the Cherington bells.

This foolish story we believed,
But we were egregiously deceived,
For its inscription plainly tells
'Twas always one of the Cherington bells.
Now sorry we are for what we've done,
We're paying dearly for our fun :
Oh! that we were out of the cells
We'd ne'er again touch Cherington bells.

External links

• Cherington Bells - Martin and Shan Graebe - SoundCloud