Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/131

 104 HISTOBT OF BISHOP AVCKLASD. £i

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bells of St Andrew's all bear an inscription, as well as the date above mentioned, whilst that at the Castle is without either the one or the other. The entries are headed " A true note of all suche somes of money as have bene given formerlie unto this Church heretofore/' and we append a few of the items : — 1606. — Sir Henrie BellaaiB 1607. — Thomas Bayles 1608. — John Richardson... 1609. — ^Anthonie Laze 1609. — ^Ralphe Crawe 1609.— William Stocke 1610.— Item, One Bell Solde 1613. — Item, Mrs. Elizabethe Wrenn 1613.— Item, Ralphe Walkar 1616. — ^Itm., given to the Church stock by Richard Hevyside Itm., given by Thomas Brack, of "Vi^llington Itm., given by Richard Trotter ... Itm., William Thomson Itm., Bryan Robinson 1617. — ^Itm., Willm., Lord Bpp. of Durham 1621. — Itm., given by Sir Charles Wren The names of dyvers newe bookes bought this year 1620, as foUoweth, belonging to the church : — ^Imprimus, a large newe Byble and one comunyon booke and ij praier bookes, one for the 6th of August and one other for the fifth of November, pryer ^Allso, the booke of Fewell and Harding. Allso, one other common book delivered to the darke. The inscriptions upon the belk of St Andrew's are : — 1st BelL — ^Venite ezvltemvs Domino, 1720. 2nd BelL — Cantate Domino canticvm, 1720. 3rd BelL — Gloria in altissimis Deo, 1720. 4th Bell. — ^Lavdate Dominvm cymbalis sononis, 1720. 5th Bell. — Beatvs est popvlvs qvi agnoscvnt dangorem, 1720. In some churches there was an extra bell, called the " Sanctus, or Elevation Bell," which was used, in Catholic times, for the purpose of announcing to those who were absent from church the particular time when the elevation of the sacred host took place, so that they might, in some degree, participate in the sacrifice then and there offered up. This bell was usually placed (as at the old Church of Brancepeth) in a small turret built for the purpose, which stood outside the church above the gable of the chancel arcL Brancepeth is the only church, we believe, in the diocese of Durham, on which this particular feature of early church architecture is to be found at the present day. The bell has been removed, but the turret in which it was suspended still remains. Bells were used in early times for other purposes than that of summoning the surrounding parishioners to the temple of Gk)d. When first placed in the tower of a church, like everything else used for sacred purposes, they were consecrated and blest by the Bishop. Hence the " Passing BeU," or death beU, owes its origin to an idea of sanctity attached to it by the early Christians, who believed that the sound of those instruments of percussion had the power of driving away evil spirits from the souls of the departing. It was, also, tolled for the purpose of bespeaking the prayers of aU good Christians for the soul just dying. In early times it was customary to toU the passing bell at all hours of the night, as weU as by day, as the following extract (given by Brand) from the churchwardens' accounts for the parish of Wolchurch, 1526, proves : — " Item, the clerke to have for toUynge of the passynge belle, for manne, womanne, or childes, if it be in the day, iiijd. Item, if it be in the night, for the same, viijd. " The following clause in the Advertisement for due Order, in the seventh year of Queen Elizabeth, is much to the same purpose : — " Item, that when anye Christian bodie is in passing, that the bell be tolled, and that the curate be speciaUie called for to comforte the sioke person ; and after the time of his Digitized by Google