d
window openings.

This spacious apartment owes the form of its curious floor to the
vaulting of the lantern-space in the time of Sir Guy de Brien, whose
arms are found in the lierne-vaulting which supports the floor. The
room was cleared and improved in 1887, when the hanging
ringing-chamber was removed, and the floor and ceiling put in good
order. The ringing-floor is on the next stage, and the belfry is the
floor above.

The clock was erected as a Jubilee memorial in 1887, at a cost of over
L200. It is built on the lines of the clocks at Westminster and
Worcester Cathedral, and chimes the so-called "Cambridge quarters" as
arranged by Dr. Crotch. Small though the clock looks from the level of
the churchyard, it must be remembered that it is the massive tower
that dwarfs it--the diameter of the face is in reality 8 feet.

[Illustration: (_H.J.L.J.M._)
INTERIOR OF THE TOWER ABOVE THE VAULTING.]

Nothing is known of the place of origin of the pre-Reformation bells,
but, arguing from the proximity of Gloucester, it may be assumed that
out of the eight bells weighing 14,200 lb. or more, some may have been
cast by John Sandre, of Gloucester.

The eight bells were bought from the King's Commissioners for L142,
_i.e._, at the rate of 5 lb. for a shilling. They may have been
bought to sell again, as the number was soon reduced to _four_. In
1612 a fifth bell was added, as a rhyme on the cover of the baptismal
register (1607-1629) tells us:

"William Dixon and Thomas Hoare
Made us that bell which wee ring before,
Which men for that good deede praie we they maie thrive,
For we having but four bells, they made them five;
And out of the grownde this bell they did delve
The 24th of Julie, Anno Dom. 1612."

Near the arcaded passage in the room in the tower are some memoranda
of the changes possible with five bells, rudely engraved in the
stonework.

In 1632 the peal was recast and a sixth bell was added, and in 1679
the two newest bells were recast. Two new bells were added in 1696. In
1797 the great or tenor bell was recast. From the time when the bells
were overhauled and tuned at Gloucester, in 1837, no further
alteration has been made. The present peal is about 500 lb. less in
weight than the peal in use at the time of the Dissolution.

From the top of the tower a fine view is to be obtained--Cheltenham,
and Gloucester, with its beautiful Cathedral tower, on the south, the
Malve