From weathervanes to war letters and worn stone steps, Richard Nye’s Windelstán gives Mere’s ancient church tower its own haunting voice
View of Mere with St Michael’s Tower after renovation in 2024
Composing music isn’t straightforward for me. It’s more of a compulsion,’ says Richard Nye, Sturminster Newton resident and Mere’s Composer in Residence. ‘And this project was quite a challenge – I was very aware I needed to get it absolutely right.’
In 2023, a £247,843 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant – along with local donations and other support – enabled the Friends of St Michael’s Church in Mere to restore St Michael the Archangels iconic tower (one of the highest towers in Wiltshire, besides Salisbury Cathedral) and launch ‘The Tower Stories’ project. Designed to bring the tower’s rich history to life, the year-long community initiative explored the stories of the stonemasons, gilders, bell ringers, and townspeople who shaped its past.
At its creative heart were two residencies: Jane Borodale as Writer in Residence, and Richard Nye, whose evocative new composition, Windelstán (Old English for a tower with a winding staircase) captures the spirit of the town in music.
‘I was intrigued – you don’t often get a brief like this,’ Richard says. ‘The committee were fairly open as to what they wanted, but they knew they were after something lasting: “an anthem for Mere”. That became my focus.
‘The first time I went up Castle Hill, once the site of the castle, the sun was shining and the view over Mere and the countryside beyond was just incredible. In that moment, something clicked – I connected with the whole process for the first time. I could see the church tower, and the loose folk tune I’d been toying with since the interview started to take shape. I imagined travelling musicians playing in that very spot, with music, storytelling and entertainment filling the air. It just felt right.’
Listen to a song for the stones here
As Richard worked on the music, the project itself grew. Mere’s Medieval Festival of Fun, planned for the weekend of 21st June to celebrate the tower restoration, was to be the first performance, and being in the open air it needed more than just piano or a small group of instruments: ‘That was the point where I felt I could really go to town on it – and suddenly it seemed to come together.
‘I wanted the tower to have a personality – an ancient and knowing presence. It’s entirely possible that parts of the church have stood for almost a thousand years, watching the town grow and change. That sense of timelessness became the heart of the piece – the tower as a silent witness to generations passing below.’
Finding the sound
Richard decided to use the tower’s own ‘voice’ – sounds recorded within it – as an instrument to create the music: ‘I didn’t want them to be obvious, apart from the church bells, which I incorporated of course. Kit, the church warden, stopped the clock for me to do that – I’m quite proud I actually made time stand still in Mere! I absolutely adored that day of recording the bells.
‘But I was looking more for the unexpected. For example, I recorded the steps of the spiral stone stair: they’ve got wood over them because they’re worn now, and each one makes an interesting sound. I recorded myself going up at 115 beats per minute – I wanted to get a rhythm, and because each step’s sound is different, I couldn’t just step on one, and keep looping it. So I ran, all the way to the bell ringing room, holding on to a visual metronome and my handheld recorder for grim death. I do not recommend it: and I don’t ever wish to do it again. My poor kneecaps!
‘I recorded keys in doors – in Windelstán, you can hear the unlocking of the church tower with its huge original key. Another great sound is the door of the bell ringing room closing – I lowered the pitch so it drones, like the low hum of a bagpipe. It’s brilliant, not at all what you’d expect.
‘Using a bit of cardboard, I played various cogs on the ancient clock mechanism. I wanted to get something from each room, and also, importantly, something from the very top of the tower. The issue is I’m quite frightened of heights, and also slightly claustrophobic, and I was on my own… I’d forgotten that a spiral staircase narrows as it goes up, so when I finally got to the top I was feeling so anxious I just wasn’t going to open the door! But then I remembered the damaged weathervanes stored above the north entrance. They’d been removed after damage to the church pinnacles (possibly by lightening), and preserved.Safely indoors, I ran my fingers across the cut-out initials of previous churchwardens – it made an amazing sound. At the start of the piece, through headphones, you can hear that sound moving from one ear to the other – that’s me, running my finger along the weathervanes. The weathervanes became my sound from the top of the tower.’
Lyrics from the past
While looking for the voices he wanted to hear within the lyrics, Richard spoke to locals about their memories of the tower and spent time in the archives: ‘I spent a morning going through hundreds of images in Mere Museum’s photo archive. And the parish magazines – they’re an incredible record. My dad’s a clergyman, and his letters were always quite personal – I wondered if Mere’s vicars were the same, and they really were. I was drawn into the letters from 1910 and 1911, when the bells were taken out and recast. One vicar apparently thanked everyone during a service, but in the next issue, he offered a fulsome thanks to one particular lady – I imagine he’d forgotten to mention her and could just see her collaring him after the service!
‘The First World War letters… I got completely pulled into them. I just sat there reading and reading. It was a very peculiar feeling. That’s what led to the soloist’s line in Windelstán: I imagined someone far from home, on a battlefield, remembering the tower, singing back to the stones. That melody comes back to them.’
Ultimately, Richard hopes Mere residents will enjoy the echoes of their home, and that those who don’t know Mere might be intrigued enough to visit: ‘Go up Castle Hill, go into the church, hear the bells. The tower tours are open – people can see what I saw, hear what I recorded. Like most people, I’d only ever driven through the town before. But that newness actually helped – it gave me fresh eyes. The place had such a profound impact. When I got back from the interview – regardless of whether I’d got the job – I started just putting little notes onto manuscript paper that came to my head just from being there. Some of those were in the final piece.’
You can listen to Windelstán sung, with all choral parts sung by Richard, on the previous page. The first live performance, complete with full choir, will be on 21st June at Mere’s Medieval Festival of Fun – a free event in the town where Richard will lead Mere School, Shreen Harmony and The Tower Stories People’s Choir. If you’d like to join in, rehearsals are open to all – no experience needed, just attend on June 2nd, 4th, 17th or 18th at 7pm in St Michael’s.
For more details of the project, plus details of events, please see thetowerstories.co.uk
