vol 2 issue 2 - Houghton-le-Spring

THE HOUGHTONIAN | JUNE 2012 | VOL 2 ISSUE 2 | ISSN 1757-3890ARTICLE BYDAMIEN WRIGHTHOUGHTON-LE-SPRINGSHENTON’S LEGACYST MICHAEL & ALL Angels Churchhas had a tower for many years,however it is has not always beenthe tower that you and I see everyday while making our way toHoughton town centre. BernardGilpin had a tower but it was a spireand nothing else. 1824 saw thespire removed to make way for thetower that is there today. It standsat an impressive three stories highand 90 feet. This new installmentmade for a greater number of bells,now consisting of six small bellsand two large bells. The full peal ofeight bells was installed in 1928.Now the tower is used as a storagespace for books and sheet musicfor the bell ringers. Oddly there isno entrance for the tower from inthe main building - you can onlyget to it from the side of the churchby walking around the back.During the Great War all churcheswith bell towers were forced to stopringing out the bells. The only timethey were allowed to ring the bellsin the towers was to notify thevillagers of an invasion of thecountry. It wasn't until the War hadended that all churches wereallowed to ring out their bells.During this time more than onemillion horses went to war alongwith the men. Farmers often soldthem as the Army was paying goodmoney. Sometimes theysequestered the horse whether theowner liked it or not. Once the Warhad ended bell ringers would ringout their bells in joyfulness andglee that the War was herebyover… and perhaps hopeful thatsome of the horse might return?This year we have two very specialreasons for ringing out our bellsacross the land. Of course manyof you will know that we have theQueen’s Diamond Jubilee and theLondon Olympics. Bell ringergroups will be gathering andpracticing right up until the bigdays. Churches and publicbuildings that have flag poles willbe flying their Union Flags at fullmast. For three full minutes thebells will be ringing out across theland to show that we a proud of ourQueen and country and of ourathletes that will be participating inthe summer games.1919 saw Mr William Shentonbecome St Michael & All Angelsnew organist after Mrs Adamsonleft. This made way for a newmusical era to begin. He was thefirst to perform Mendelssohn’sHymn of Praise in 1920. Shentonalso composed a number of worksincluding songs, anthems, chants,music for both the piano and theorgan and a setting of the end ofevery service, from which the Amenis still sung. Having a fairly largechoir called for a lot of rehearsing,especially on large events likeChristmas and Easter but nonemore so than for the traditionalHoughton Feast services. Thereare very few pictures of bothWilliam and the choir togetherapart from on top of the bell towerroof and maybe in the church.William retired at the great age of87 in February 1972 due to theantics of the young choristers andfelt it was time he left after devoting53 years to the church.I recently went up into the belltower and got some great pictures;the view is stunning from the roof!You can see as far as Durham, ifnot further. Looking down to thestreet below is amazing – it makesyou think: ‘wow what a view’. Youcan see all the shops and localbusinesses on Newbottle Street, upSunderland Street, Church Streetand beyond!The last place you would expectgraffiti to be is on the roof of thebell tower but as the picture showsa T. JONES left his mark in 1874.This may be from a child or even agrown man. There are dates andnames upon the roof dating backas early as 1800, as it was notuncommon for people to be on theroof.DAMIEN WRIGHT