One of the historically most interesting items in Milwich church hangs in the belfry. It is the oldest of the three bells we have here, cast in 1409. On the continent it was always the common practice to date bells, but here it only became usual after the Reformation, so there are very few dated bells in this country before c.1550. The oldest dated bell in England, so far as is known, is at Lissett on Humberside, and dates from 1254. Others exist from 1296, 1317, 1407 1408 and 1409 at Milwich, making ours what is believed to be the sixth oldest dated English bell, and the oldest in Staffordshire. The Milwich bell has a diameter of 28″, is 30½″ high, and weighs just over 4½cwt. (or in metric, 78.12cm x 77.47 cm and 228.61 kilograms - ed.)

I can do no better than quote the words of a visitor to Milwich in 1949, a lady who about a dozen years later was my English mistress at school. She wrote ‘Timidly I put my hand on the bell rope, then gave a strong sudden pull. From far above me in the dusty cobwebs of the tower came the deep tone of the bell that rang out there before Agincourt … “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” cry the letters struck on the metal. “Johannes de Colsale made me 1409.” Yes, and he made you well! Ring on, John of Colsale’s bell! You have rung since the days of Henry the Fourth. You have the right to ring still at Milwich!’

In 1910 twenty bells made by ”John of Colsale” were identified. There is one other bell by him in Staffordshire, also in the Mid-Trent team, at St. Andrew's Church in Weston. 

Randle Knight