Box People and Places
Latest Issue 48 Summer 2025 
  • This Issue
    • Augustus Perren
    • Church Photos
    • Box Village Photos
    • Bath Photos
    • Pictor Photos
    • Celebration Photos
    • Perren Family Photos
    • Unknown Photos
    • Box People Photos
    • VE Day Full Story
    • Memories of VE Day 1945
    • VE Daty 2025 Anniversary
    • Oral History
  • Previous
    • Issue 46 - Box Hill
    • Issue 45 - Moleyns Lordship
    • Issue 44 - Viking Hazelbury
    • Issue 43 - Late Medieval
    • Issue 42 - Beautiful Box
    • Issue 41 - Becket Plays
    • Issue 40 - Selwyn Hall
    • Issues 30-39 >
      • Issue 39 - Modern Box
      • Issue 38 - Railway Workers
      • Issue 37 - Mill Lane Halt
      • Issue 36 - Box Rec
      • Issue 35 - Inter war
      • Issue 34 - Fogleigh House
      • Issue 33 - KIngsdown Post Office
      • Issue 32 - Chapel Lane
      • Issue 31 - Saxon Box
      • Issue 30 - Georgian Rudloe
    • Issues 20-29 >
      • Issue 29 - Darkest Hour
      • Issue 28 - VE Day
      • Issue 27 - Northey
      • Issue 26 - Heritage Trail
      • Issue 25 - Slave Owners
      • Issue 24 - Highwaymen
      • Issue 23 - Georgian
      • Issue 22 - War Memorial
      • Issue 21 - Childhood 1949-59
      • Issue 20 - Box Home Guard
    • Issues 10-19 >
      • Issue 19 - Outbreak WW2
      • Issue 18 - Building Bargates
      • Issue 17 - Railway Changes
      • Issue 16 - Quarries
      • Issue 15 - Rail & Quarry
      • Issue 14 - Civil War
      • Issue 13: Box Revels
      • Issue 12 - Where You Live
      • Issue 11 - Tudor & Stuart
      • Issue 10 - End of Era 1912
    • Issues 1-9 >
      • Issue 9 - Health & Leisure
      • Issue 8 - Farming & Rural
      • Issue 7 - Manufacturing
      • Issue 6 - Celebrations
      • Issue 5 - Victorian Centre
      • Issue 4 - Slump after WW1
      • Issue 3 - Great War 1914-18
      • Issue 2 - 1950s & 1960s
      • Issue 1 - 1920s
    • Index By Author
    • Partner Sites & Book Reviews
    • Currency Converter
  • People
  • Places
  • General
  • FULL Series
  • Contact
    • Blog
    • Q&A
More Inquest into John Thrift's Death                Bob Mustow                  February 2016
The death of Elizabeth I on 24 March 1603 had been expected for some time but it still took people by surprise because she had reigned for 44 years and had led Britain through troublesome times, now dying without a successor. The news of her death was marked by bonfires lit in London and the ringing of church bells throughout England as the news spread.

The ringing of bells became a tradition which continued in England, almost alone throughout Europe. And the bonfires which had greeted the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 is still a tradition which we mark today as Bonfire Night for the capture of the Gunpowder Plotters to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605.

Bob Mustow is able to add the following about the death of John Thrift recounted at Death at St Thomas a Becket.

Picture
It seems that, when John Thrift went to see the bells, the tenor was set ready for ringing and, as he entered the belfry, the bell was pulled off, swung down and it hit him.  As it was a funeral probably the other bells were not set which could have misled him into thinking they were down in front of him whereas the tenor was above him, the other way up. This is still a risk today and access to bells hung for full-circle ringing has to be strictly controlled.

Anyway, as the bell weighs nearly a ton it wouldn't have done him any good!

Left: Box's 1610 bell (courtesy Carol Payne)
Back to Issue 12