In 1662 there was a ring of five bells which were cast in the reign of James I in commemoration of the purchase of the manor by the town of Hinckley from the Earl of Nottingham in the year 1604. They were cast by Hugh Watts. A treble bell was added by public subscriptions in 1777. This bell was soon after cracked by lightening and re-cast in 1785. The tenor was also cracked and re-cast in 1825. In 1792 two more trebles were added.

The 1908 fine peal consisted of eight bells, which all hang on one level.

Although the windows of the belfry have been bricked up, just leaving the top quarter open the bells make a splendid sound. They resonate well, not only in the vast space of the belfry, but in the spire above which  has 12 openings that let the sound out.

The famous chiming system was installed in 1792/3. It operates like a musical box and consists of a mahogany barrel 1.22m long and 0.91m in diameter. The studs on this barrel operate levers and hammers attached to the bells. In 1889 the machinery was overhauled and 5 of the original tunes were changed.

The church contains one of the finest peals of bells in the county. Five of
these were first cast at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Gradually over the years three more were added. In 1925 all eight were re-cast with additional metal. The tenor (heaviest) weighs 22 cwts (1.118
tonnes). They were re-hung on a massive old oak frame. Although the windows of the belfry have been bricked up, just leaving the top quarter open, the bells make a splendid sound. They resonate well, not only in the vast space of the belfry, but in the spire above which itself has twelve openings, allowing the bells to be heard all over Hinckley.

Hand bells & iron chest
St Mary’s also possesses a set of hand bells kept in the ringing chamber. Also in the ringing chamber is a cast iron chest made in 1832 for parish records.The clock
Installed by Gillett and Bland of Croydon in 1876. It strikes the quarters
(Westminster chimes) on four bells, and the hour on the tenor bell.

The English way of ringing church bells began in this country and is quite unlike anything on the continent. For centuries church bells have been chimed from below by means of ropes attached to simple levers fixed to the headstocks from which the bells were hung. The replacement of levers by full wheels, which began in sixteenth-century England gave the
ringers better control of their bells, allowing sets of bells to be rung in systematically changing patterns. The bells are tuned to a normal (diatonic) scale and it is usual to start with ringing down the scale, a sequence which ringers call “rounds”. The order in which the bells sound is then altered to give different sequences called “changes”. Changes may be called out individually by the conductor, and this style is
known as call-change ringing. Alternatively, the changes may be made to a pre-set pattern or “method”, and each ringer must learn that method in order to know when his or her particular bell must sound in each row - method ringing.
St Mary’s ringers meet on Monday evenings, and new recruits are
always welcome.
 

Chiming apparatus
In the clock room, above the ringing chamber, installed in 1792/3. It operates
like a musical box and consists of a mahogany barrel 1.22 m long and 0.91m in
diameter. The studs on this barrel operate levers and hammers attached to the
bells. The tunes change every twenty four hours, at midnight, except that on
Sunday the tune is also changed at mid-day. In 1889 the machinery was
overhauled and five of the original tunes were changed. The only original ones
now remaining are: ‘Hymn by Handel’, ‘A loyal song’ (The National Anthem)
and ‘Highland Laddie’. Other tunes are ‘Aurelia’ by S. S. Wesley, ‘St. Francis
Xavier’ by Handel, ‘Lux Benigna’ by J. B. Dykes, ‘Adoro te’, ‘Sicilian Mariners’
Hymn’, ‘St. Thomas’. This mechanism is badly worn and needs major restoration.

Sleepless night
In 1925, Louis Vierne, the world famous organist of Notre Dame in Paris, and
composer, while on his second tour of England gave a recital in St Mary’s. He
spent the night following the recital in Hinckley. He stayed with a distant relative,
Paul Rochard, the organist of St. Mary’s whose house was close to the church.
Vierne was a light sleeper and was kept awake by the Chimes which sounded
every three hours. He later composed “Les Cloches de Hinckley” (‘The Bells
of Hinckley’).