Bells of the old parish of Viekšniai

The first information about the parish bells appeared in 1676, when five little bells were mentioned in relation with a fire in the Viekšniai chapel. In 1711-25 a new belfry was built in Leckava, the roof of the Viekšniai belfry was repaired, and a new bell and a Sanctus bell were bought and mounted in the tower in the centre of the church. The Užlieknis church had a bell cast in 1703. In 1732 a new bell cast by Andreas Dörling in Königsberg was bought. It was probably at that time that a new belfry of an open type and pole construction was built. Between 1725 and 1737 the Sanctus bell of the Viekšniai church got cracked and was recast. A new bell was bought from the master Dörling of Königsberg in 1737. In 1738-41 a two-storey belfry was built at the parochial church. It 1826 it was thoroughly repaired. Later the building was repaired not once; when a new brick church was built, the bells were transferred to its tower. Two bells could have been made in the late 17th century, and two more were cast in the first half of the 18th century. The bishop of Samogitia Juozapas Mykolas Karpis consecrated the bells in 1738. These instruments were destroyed during World War I. In 1925 three new steel bells produced in "Becker" factory in Liepaja were bought for the donations collected by Viekšniai parishioners. These are the earliest products of this factory known in Samogitia. In 1768 the Užlieknis church acquired a new bell. Up until the fire of 2007 it had a set of bells from the 18th century, In Leckava, a now belfry of composite structure was built in 1806. Its ground floor was built of brick, and the first floor was wooden. Before World War I the belfry contained three bells. One of thorn was cast in 1644 by the Vilnius master Jan Brandt, another was made in Varniai in 1817 and the third was cast between 1738 and 1741, and most probably requisitioned in 1833. In 1804 Leckava residents raised funds for a new instrument, which was made by the efforts of the Reverends Jurgis Lodovičius and Jan Rotter-ding. However, in 1838 this bell got cracked, and was recast by the master C. F. Shurin in Riga by the efforts of the Reverend Adomas Kuršelskis and with the funds of parishioners and other benefactors. Today this bell is cracked and no longer in use. The other two old bells of Leckava disappeared during World War I - they were taken to Russia. The tower on the church pediment contains a bell made in 1777, which was borrowed from the Seda parish. The old bells of all the churches in the parish were harmoniously matched with each other. In the first half of the 19th century, inmates of alms-houses most often worked as bell ringers in Viekšniai and Leckava. From 1839 women also rang bells in Viekšniai. Two little bells in Viekšniai, meant for the Holy Mass, were produced in Russia, one of them - in the factory of the master Yegor Spiridonovich Kliuykov in Purekh. A n instrument hanging above the sacristy in Leckava was also made by Russian masters. A little bell attached to the sacristy door of the Užlieknė church was made in Valday in Russia. Another bell from Valday is used for ringing for the Mass in Užlieknė. The smallest instrument of this purpose was cast in Purekh by the master Grigory Mozhkov. All these former cart bells were adapted for the liturgy. Produced in the second half of the :9th century and early 20th century, today they are widespread in the entire former Viekšniai parish. The great bell of Užlieknė, which currently hangs in the church tower, is made of steel and was cast in Liepaja in our times