St Andrew by the Wardrobe, a Wren church near Blackfriars, holds three bells that came from St Mary's church at Avenbury, a lost village near Bromyard in Herefordshire. Wikipedia's Avenbury article says three of the bells were rehung in the London church, after the Avenbury church closed in 1931, according to the Mysteries of Mercia account of the site.
Londonist's haunted tube map says one of them, named Gabriel, is said to ring of its own accord to indicate death or tragedy. Despite its relocation to Blackfriars, it was heard to toll upon the death of Avenbury's vicar. Londonist gives no date or witness for the tolling, and the story is told in a light tone.
The Avenbury end of the tale has its own folklore. Mysteries of Mercia, a Herefordshire site, says the last vicar of Avenbury reported ghostly goings on himself, hearing the bell ringing and an organ playing after the church was closed for the night, and describes other stories of an exorcised arsonist's ghost and a disinterred woman thought to be a witch. Those belong to Herefordshire, but they are the likely background to the idea that the bells carry a link back to the old parish.
The record is a traditional London omen tale built on a real transfer of bells, with no first-hand account of the tolling. It is filed under curse and omen folklore, not as a haunting.
Comments