| Plate, Bells, Organ, Sundials and Registers. |  |
| Plate, Bells, Organ, Sundials and Registers. | |
| The Church owes most of its silver to
the generosity of the Hildyard family. It has an Elizabethan
type goblet of hand beaten silver of uncertain date, probably around 1700,
which has been extensively repaired and restored. The Church also possesses
a large pewter flagon dated 1774. One silver tray and two silver
platters were given by the Rev W. Hildyard in 1831 and 1835 and in 1875
the same donor provided a silver flagon. In 1878 and 1894 two
silver chalices were given in memory of Sophia Hildyard and Alexander Grant
Hildyard. Many gifts have been given to St Guthlac's during the past
35 years in the memory of their families and to beautify our Church
The Organ was built by William Hill of London in 1882 and installed on September 28th of that year. It has two manuals and pedals, with thirteen speaking stops and three couples. It was extensively overhauled and restored by Hills of Cambridge in 1968 and in 1994, the latter restoration including tonal modification and the provision of a trumpet stop. The beautiful Altar Reredos with its intricate mosaic was also installed in 1882. In the tower there is a peal of six bells cast by Joseph Eyre of St Neots in 1766. The tenor bell weighs sixteen hundredweights. The bells were overhauled and retuned by Taylor's of Loughborough and a new bell frame provided in 1989. This new frame contained provision for two new bells to enable the octave. At present plans are well advanced with the help of the Millennium Commission to provide these new bells. They will be cast by Taylors around Easter of this year (1998). The clock was placed in the tower in 1763. It was extensively overhauled and a new self-winding mechanism provided by Smith of Derby in 1996. Also on the tower are two sundials suitably inscribed, probably the gift of Rev. Andrew Borrodale on coming to the parish in 1710. In 1594 - 1595 The Rev William Colsel was
paid twelve pence for "keeping and writyng" parish accounts, but in 1710
the present Parish registers were commenced. All the earlier registers
or "writings" were torn to pieces by the then Rector's wife who is described
in the first register as "a woman of great passion, who blinded her husband
by the same means". For thirteen years from 1710 the Rev Andrew Borrodale
kept the registers with unusual care and restored some earlier than that
date.
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