St Peter's, Upper Riccarton (Christchurch)
The Bells
| Diameter (inches) |
Note | Weight (cwt-qtrs-lbs) |
Founder | Date | History | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Treble | 14.5" | E | 0-3-2 | Whitechapel | 2015 | Stock bell |
| 2nd | 15.4" | D# | 0-3-16 | Whitechapel | 2016 | Stock bell |
| 3rd | 16.6" | C# | 1-0-2 | Whitechapel | 2013 | Stock bell |
| 4th | 18.2" | B | 1-1-13 | Whitechapel | 1996 | Cast for La Bri Winery, Western Cape, South Africa but never installed |
| 5th | 19.17" | A | 1-2-22 | Eijsbouts, Asten | 2001 | Cast for St Cybi, Holyhead but never installed |
| 6th | 20.5" | G# | 1-3-12 | Eijsbouts, Asten | 2001 | Cast for St Cybi, Holyhead but never installed |
| 7th | 22.5" | F# | 2-1-1 | John Warner & Sons | 1911 | Former Trinity House buoy bell |
| Tenor | 24.25" | E | 2-3-6 | John Taylor | 1975 | The largest of a 3-bell clock chime cast for a clock tower in Pitsea Essex |
Upper Riccarton featured in The Ringing World
ANZAB's newest tower, at Upper Riccarton, Christchurch, New Zealand, features on the front cover and succeeding pages of the 1 August 2025 issue of The Ringing World. St Peter's (located at Church Corner, as it is known locally) is a light ring of 8 bells from a mix of founders and dates. Until these bells were installed, it had been more than 40 years since a new ring of bells had been installed in New Zealand.
See Mandy Spearing's article about Upper Riccarton in 
New Tower in Christchurch
The most recent addition to our Tower Directory is St Peter's Church Corner, in Christchurch, NZ.
There was an update in the Winter Ringing Towers reporting the arrival of the frame, bells and fittings to the church. Since then progress has been rapid, as hoped. The bells have been hung and rung.
Mandy Spearing reports that the wheels are steel, very heavy and weighted individually to improve handling of the small bells. She says the bells ring really smoothly and sound glorious outside. They rang the service out this mornign so the congregation could hear them.
Dave Kelly, notes that it is "the 21st new ring of bells in ANZAB territory for which the Keltek Trust has helped to source bells. We sourced six bells (donating five) for Richmond and sourced and donated all eight for this tower in Christchurch. At the time it was our largest single donation".
Deryn Griffiths
From facebook and bellboard posts, and information from Mandy Spearing
13 July 2025
New Bells Arrive in Christchurch
Two quarter peals, at Papanui and on the Karearea Bells, announced the arrival of the bells for St Peter's Church Corner.
It is over 13 years since the earthquake destroyed Christchurch cathedral and sent the tower and bells toppling to the ground, but we have remained determined to provide the ringers with a temporary home until the cathedral is reinstated.
Last week we reached a major milestone with the delivery of the bells and frame from Matthew Higby & Co. The shipping was longer than expected process due to pirates in the Red Sea and ferries running aground in the Cook Strait!
The bells will be installed at St Peter's, Church Corner, Christchurch. They are in storage pending the appropriate council consents and church authority approval after which the installation should be relatively straightforward. We are not yet able to commit to a date by which we will be ringing, but should know more very soon.
This ring of bells is the first new ring to be installed in New Zealand in more than 50 years.
We are grateful to the Keltek Trust who donated all 8 bells, the organisers of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant who donated the frame from the Royal Jubilee Bell tower and to Matthew Higby who has stuck with us through all the ups and downs. The project is funded through support from ANZAB as well as fundraising and significant individual donations in New Zealand. More money is required to complete the project, so watch this space for a chance to 'sponsor a bell'!
Mandy Spearing
August 2024
Bells set to arrive in Christchurch
One of the most recently approved ANZAB projects is the installation of eight bells in St Peter's Church Corner, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Bells errected at Matthew Higby's workshop prior to dismantling and shipping to New Zealand
Mandy Spearing wites: We still have work to do with the council and architect before the bells can be installed but we decided to get them over here and store them at our place. The ship is currently moored in Sydney and will be in Tauranga (N Island) by the end of the month. They will then be trucked down to us (with a likely delay due to some issues with the Cook Strait ferries at the moment). Provisionally due here 3rd July, but I am sure it will be later than that. We are aiming to have them ringing by the end of the year. With some more years of delays in the cathedral reinstatement now, making it no earlier than 2031, St Peter's becomes even more important to Christchurch ringers.
June 2024
Announcement
As per The Ringing World (19 November 2021) and Ringing Towers (Summer 2021-22), eight bells (tenor 2cwt) donated by the Keltek Trust, with a frame made by Matthew Higby & Co. are to be installed in St Peter's Upper Riccarton. These are the bells donated following the earthquake (2011) with the intention of them being hung in a temporary tower near the Transitional (Cardboard) Cathedral.
Upper Riccarton is about 2km west of Christchurch. The stone church includes a substantial tower, empty except for an old Taylor bell, hung for chiming from the ground floor. Access is by a narrow spiral staircase to a square ringing chamber with a high ceiling. The church had recent repairs and earthquake strengthening.
Mike Clayton inspecting the Chiming Bell
When the bellringers approached the vicar and churchwardens to see if they would support the installation of these bells in the existing tower they were met with great enthusiasm.
The Christchurch Cathedral bellringers look forward to this tower as a temporary home, a place to bring on a new cathedral band, and an extra tower for the South Island of New Zealand, and for ANZAB, in the long term.
Mandy Spearing
January 2022
notes
This page supplements the ANZAB Tower Directory, and records further information about the tower, its bells and ringers.
Some of this has been provided by local ringers, but most is historical and has been gathered by the ANZAB Webmaster since 2002.
Tower officers are encouraged to submit material for inclusion on this page, or suggest changes to its content.
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