Forgotten London: The Ashburnham Bell (Bookhounds, Esoterrorists, Night's Black Agents)

Old Chelsea Church, 1959, via Pathe 

This bell will be found in the porch of old Chelsea Church. It had an interesting history before it found its last resting place under the tower in which in old days it hung.

The story goes that the Hon. William Ashburnham, Cofferer to Charles II, lost his way walking by the river at Chelsea in 1679. He fell into the water and might well have been drowned had not the sound of the clock at the old Chelsea Church striking nine guided him to the bank, and safety.

In gratitude for his deliverance he gave this bell to be rung at nine p.m. every evening from November till March, and also left a sum of money to pay the verger for his labour. The bell was rung regularly until 1822.

The bell remained in the tower until it was pronounced unsafe, when it had to be taken down and hung in its present position. 

Old Chelsea Church is not only a place of worship but a museum of historical treasures well worthy of being visited.

London Cameos, A.H. Blake, 1930.

Old Chelsea Church has one item that will interest Bookhounds in particular: a chained library, the last survivor of its kind. A chained library keeps its valuable books chained up, so people can't just walk off with them. It includes in its collection the so-called "Vinegar Bible" of 1717 - an elegant display piece riddled with errors, including ‘The parable of the vineyard’ (Luke 20) which instead reads, ‘the parable of the vinegar’ - two volumes of Foxe's Book of Martyrs (1684 edition), a prayer book (1723) and Homilies (1683). 

The Hounds' forger in particular will want to see these, for inspiration if nothing else, but it's a valuable resource for anyone who wants to check the provenance of a so-called relic of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries against genuine articles of the period. 

Blake doesn't make it clear when the tower restoration took place, but as his book was published in 1930 it's reasonable to think it happened at some point roundabout the turn of the century, so probably before 1920 and well within living memory of most Bookhounds characters.

A cofferer, incidentally, is a treasury official. William was a contemporary of Samuel Pepys, who mentions William in his famous diaries. Not to be confused with the 2nd Baron Ashburnham, also a William, but born in 1679, the same year his namesake slipped into the drink.

The video shows the church in 1959. It was bombed heavily during the Blitz, such that they had to hold services in the hospital adjacent, and restored in the 1950s, work completing in 1954. So the church seen in the video is in much better condition than in Blake's day. It was re-consecrated in 1958 with the Queen in attendance. The Bell survived the bombing, and still hangs in the porch.

This has the makings of a good Victorian-era ghost story, one where some luckless soul gets into difficulty - whether in the river or in some other way - and is guided to safety by the old bell of Chelsea, perhaps rung by some wraith-like verger who sticks to his post come what may. 

As a Megapolisomantic lever it has links with royalty, money, luck, safety, and the river, which suggests it could be used to assist workings of those types. Someone has almost certainly already taken advantage of this, and may already have established their own claim to the Ashburnham Bell. Perhaps they've encapsulated this in some kind of talisman, which they have to recharge at the Bell at least once a year to keep it fresh.

In a different setting - Night's Black Agents, say, or Esoterrorists - the Bell might have had a different function. Say there was reason to think that there was a significant Outer Dark presence near the church, or that the Membrane was particularly weak there. The Hon. William Ashburnham might have had a completely different, covert reason for having it hung, and rung each night at nine of the clock. Perhaps he was trying to reinforce the Membrane at that particular time, or perhaps he was trying to weaken it somehow. If the latter, then maybe that peculiar historical society which wants to re-establish the nine-o-clock ringing has a sinister purpose in mind. 

Or say that the vampires in your setting - presumably Supernatural or Damned - have an aversion to the ringing of church bells. The fact that the Hon. William wanted this bell rung at that time of night may mean there was a presence here, back in the days of Charles II - and perhaps there's something worth finding at old Chelsea Church. Sounds like an Architecture spend to me, or possibly Theology. Is that old vampire story as dead and gone as it appears to be, or did something come back to Chelsea once the bell stopped ringing?

Finally:

The Ashburnham Presence

Hook: One of the Hounds' regulars has a fetish for nobility. Ashburnham - as they prefer to be called - will do just about anything if the Hounds can prove (through forgery or legitimate means) that Ashburnham is indeed a relict of that branch of the family which in former times hung the bell at Chelsea. Ashburnham even claims to have a strong spiritual link with that bell, and it seems to pan out. Whenever Ashburnham goes near it, the bell hums with energy and a faint ringing noise can be heard. Does this imply some kind of psychic symmetry?

Awful Truth(s):

1. Ashburnham is a member of a Witch Cult, and that's why the bell hums whenever Ashburnham is near; it's a warning. It's warning people that the books in its chained library are at risk. Once a month, at midnight, there can be seen an extra chained book in the collection - a fabled Book of Shadows, put here by the Hon. William for safekeeping.
2. Ashburnham is nothing to do with the family, and in fact Ashburnham isn't even their real name. It's Spinks. However Ashburnham is a natural Megapolisomancer and the bell is reacting to Ashburnham's innate power. The longer Ashburnham stays in contact with it, the more likely something awful will happen.
3. Ashburnham has nothing to do with the bell, and is conflating his presence with its activity - post hoc ergo procter hoc. In fact the bell reacts to nearby Yithian presence, with accompanying time distortion effects. It's reacting as though it were nine of the clock, and time to ring. The more often, and louder, this happens the stronger the Yithian influence - but why here, in Chelsea? What's causing it?

That's it for this week. Enjoy!