The village of Ilsington lies just within the Dartmoor National Park boundary and sits on the southern slopes surrounded by farmland and woodland. It is a pretty village that has an excellent pub, The Carpenters Arms.
The six bells in the tower are by a mixture of founders. Treble and 2nd by Gillett & Johnston 1926, 3rd by William & Charles Pannell 1828 and the back 3 by Thomas Bilbie 1797. Gillett & Johnston hung the Treble above the back 5 in 1926 and were then asked to rehang the back 5 in a cast iron frame in 1947. They also retuned the bells, but as you will hear from the video, they didn't quite get the tuning right on these, the trebles are very shrill and don't really match the back 4. The bells are odd struck and are tricky to get right. Certainly rising the bells was difficult for those ringing the Tenor, which didn't seem to clapper that well and missed in the rise. Having said all that, I still quite like them, a challenge to get right.
This video is part of the winning test piece from the South Devon 6 bell qualifying round, held on Saturday, 11th May.