Little is recorded of the early history of the Meldreth Church Bells.
The oldest bell was cast by Tobie Norris of Stamford in 1617 and weighs 10½ cwts. It bears the inscription Non Sono Animabus Mortvorum Sed Avribus Vivent Ivm; "I sound not for the souls of the dead, but for the ears of the living".
The second bell was cast by Miles Graye of Colchester in 1662. This bell cracked in 1967, and was recast by the Whitechapel Foundry in the same year.
In 1885, two bells were added by John Taylor of Loughborough to make a peal of four. This presumably necessitated recasting one bell by an itinerate founder, John Waylet of Bishop's Stortford.
In 1887, to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, another bell was added by Gillette & Bland of Croydon (makers of the present clock).
These five bells remained in a medieval wooden frame and according to the Melbourn ringers were unsatisfactory. In 1936, with the arrival of a ringing Vicar, the Revd. L. Galley, the bells were removed, together with the ancient frame, to Ipswich for new fittings, frame, wheels etc. This work was carried out by Alfred Bowell.
In 1950, a war memorial bell was added to make a peal of six. As mentioned earlier, the Miles Graye fifth bell cracked and was recast together with the unsatisfactory bell of 1887. A year later, 1968, two more bells were added to complete the octave.
The bells are rung on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays at 9:15 - 9:45am. Practice night is on Wednesday, at 7:30pm.
John Gipson.