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Did you know? : Between 1808 and 1820, payment to the ringers for public ringing averaged £4 per year (roughly £200 in modern money), mostly in beer.


Tower roof

The stairs lead directly to the roof, which provides a popular viewpoint when we have tower open days. The roof is leaded - flat round the edges, with a shallow slope leading to a small central platform that provides the anchor points for the flag pole.

The clock bell is on the west side, just behind the parapet. This is unusual for a tower with bells, where the clock would normally strike on the Tenor (biggest) bell. This clock bell is far smaller than the Tenor, with a rather harsh sound. It has no founders marks.

Prior to the work on the tower exterior stonework in 2005, there were test patches (in various colours) of render material on the inside of the parapet walls. They are still present, as a historical record, now that the whole walls are rendered with the final colour. (The pictures below show a mixture of the roof before and after restoration.)

The most recent addition to the roof is the external half of the air conditioning unity that cools the ringing room in summer (and warms it in winter). It sits behind the parapet next to the clock bell, where no one needs to walk past it, and where it is not visible from outside, Cables and pipes to the unit are fed through a special duct with a cowl to prevent any rain getting into the tower.

Pictures

lFromStairs2008.jpg
View from the stairs
1Turret.jpg
Looking back at the entrance
2TowerRoof.jpg
Creneliations round the roof
3Platform.jpg
Central platform
4ClockBell.jpg
Clock bell
5ClockBellSnow.jpg
Clock bell wreathed in snow
6RenderTest.jpg
Test patches (before final rendering)
7LichenSnow.jpg
Lichen (and snow) on stonework
lExtUnit2.jpg
Air conditioning unit behind the clock bell (note cable duct)
lCableDuct.jpg
Close up of the cable duct
lExtUnit1.jpg
The base of the flag pole (with Rose Street visible through the gap)

Views from the tower

There are fine views over the town and surrounding country. The map below shows the direction of general views and items of interest, from the tower (the circle in the corner is the stair turret). Click on each feature to see the picture, or see them below.

 Key to views St Paul's Spire View North West View North View North East Police Station Church Cottages Cornerstone Churchyard View West View East London Road The Ship South West Town Hall Tudor Corner Rose Street


View pictures

Click each to enlarge and move between pictures using the arrows.

1SouthWest.jpg
South West
2West.jpg
West
30NorthWest.jpg
North West
3ViewNW.jpg
North West 2
40North.jpg
North
4ViewN.jpg
North hills
ViewNorthEast.jpg
North East
60East.jpg
East
6ViewE.jpg
East to Bracknell
SouthGate.jpg
Churchyard and south gate
90TheShip.jpg
The Ship
91RoseStreet.jpg
Rose Street
RoseStreet.jpg
Rose Street 2
92TudorCorner.jpg
Tudor Corner
93TownHall.jpg
Town Hall
94PoliceStation.jpg
Police Station
95StPaulsSpire.jpg
St Paul's church Spire
96ChurchCottages.jpg
Church Cottages
97Cornerstone.jpg
Cornerstone
98Churchyard.jpg
Churchyard
990LondonRoad.jpg
London Road
991ChYardTreesSnow.jpg
Churchyard in snow
992GatherSpSnow.jpg
Gathering space in snow
993SplayedYew.jpg
Yew splayed open by snow

For pictures of snow damage to the Cedar tree in 2010, see here .


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