Felkirk Church

A Memory of Ryhill.

Felkirk Church was about five miles from Ryhill and was built long before the birth of Oliver Cromwell. There he used one of the stable yards which was adjacent to the church. Anyway in the year 1959 I was become a bell-ringer at that church, Mr Stan Chant was one of the teachers whereupon he set me out a riddle which I had to solve. He said to me that when the clock upon the church struck 12 midnight all the ghosts came out from their graves but they very seldom heard it. Mr Chant gave me as long as I wished to solve the riddle but I could not solve it. He took me outside the church and told me to look up at the bell tower and said for me to study it. He even gave me the riddle once more and still I did not know the meaning of the riddle. Then he told me to go up into the belfry with him. The belfry stone stairs twisted some eighty feet where in places there was no lights to shine the way. On going up such dark places it was only natural for one to slide one's hands along the wall leading up into the belfry: all of a sudden my fingers brushed against something hairy, at which I kind of shivered at what I had felt. ''Mr Chant", I exclaimed "I've just brushed by something hairy on the wall". He chuckled a little and then said "Don't worry, it's only someone's hair growing through the plaster". I said to him that he was joking! But he told me that in the medieval days those that were rich enough would pay for their bodies to be placed into either the floors of the church or to be sealed up in the walls of the church. The higher they were encased the more it cost. It was believed that God would favour those that could pay. Anyway, on the wall of the belfry was a large photograph of the church which was a newspaper clipping stating that lightening had struck the mechanism. The whole clockwork was too expensive to repair and was taken out and that was why at midnight when the clock struck twelve midnight that the ghosts seldom heard it. At the age of twelve it was enough for me to be somewhat cautious as I went up those belfry stairs. Within the belfry on practice nights there was a young lad by the name of Jack. He was about ten years old and was quite small and thin. Young Jack was put on the treble bell as this was the biggest weight that he'd be able to handle. When young Jack should have tried to steady the bell it got out of control and he kept hold of the sally (fluffy bit of rope) too long when suddenly the rope he was holding shot up into the ceiling with young Jack holding on tight. He was being lifted from off the floor at breakneck speed and if it had not been for Mr Chant grabbing him by his ankles and shouting to him to let go, his tiny hands would have gone through the bell rope hole where there'd be no guessing what might have happened. He let go some ten feet in the air and Mr Chant let Jack slip through his hands and caught him by the waist. New Year's Eve Party came for us bell-ringers where there were many of us who were to ring for about six hours, and then came the New Year's Party which was thirty minutes past midnight. The vicar, a Mr Webster, had had his fair share of booze when one of the young women of about 19 years old asked him out of curiosity how long he'd been vicar at Felkirk church. Drunk or not, the vileness of his words caused many of the bell-ringers to shield the young woman as tears came from her eyes. Through the years we were to turn our backs upon him because of his drunken behaviour, such as drink-driving a Guy's bus full of the choir boys and altar boys and also women. He was banned from driving but was caught weeks later for doing the same thing. Not so much a memory but nevertheless it happened.