Inside St John the Baptist's Church, Yarkhill

A stone slab set into the north wall of the vestry is a memorial to Francis STEDMAN who was Yarkhill's parish priest for more than 40 years (1625-1671). The church leaflet tells us he was the father of Fabian STEDMAN, and by way of confirmation, the IGI has a record of Fabian son of Francis STEDMAN and “Urs”, baptised at Yarkhill on 7 Dec 1640. Fabian published “Tintinnalogia” (1668), and “Campanalogia” (1677), treatises on the art of bell ringing. It has been suggested he may have learned bell ringing initially from his father; however he was apprentised at the age of 15 to Daniel PAKEMAN, a Master Printer in London, and there he joined a rather prestigious bell- ringing society, one of whose venues was St Mary le Bow (“Bow Bells”)

(Information provided by Rosemary Lockie)

References
^[1] Article on Fabian Stedman (Wikipedia)
^[2] Hereford Diocesan Guild of Bellringers (Open Lead, June 2008) - isn't it amazing what you can find on the Internet!