The only way I can get the melody to come out as I hear it in my head and with the stress on the first beat is by having two voices alternating. I am not sure if I am remembering or imagining that effect. This ABC may throw some errors but works at
http://www.mandolintab.net/abcconverter.php I think the "great bell of Bow" has the root note.
X:1
T:Oranges and Lemons
N: Two voices alternating. Last bar of each line is 2/4 but not shown here to make the ABC easier to read.
M:3/4
L:1/4
K:G
P: Call and response
d/d/ B d | B G A/B/ | c A d | B G ||
w: V1.~~Or-an-ges and lem-ons Say the bells of St. Clem-ent's.
d |d B d | B G A/B/ | c A d | B G ||
w:V2.~~You owe me five far-things, Say the bells of St. Mar-tin's.
A F A | F D E/F/ | G E A | F D ||
w:V1.~~When will you pay me? Say the bells of Old Bai-ley.
A F A | D z E/F/ | G E A | D z ||
w:V2.~~When I grow rich, Say the bells of Shore-ditch.
d B d | G z A/B/ | c A d | G z ||
w:V1.~~When will that be? Say the bells of Step-ney.
A F A | D z E/F/ | G E A | D z ||
w:V2.~~I do not know, Says the great bell of Bow.
The effect on the first lines is a bit like those Breton dance tunes sung as call and response where each voice lingers on its last note giving an effect that a single melody instrument can't really replicate.
The Wikipedia page mentions it sounding like the bells in question. I don't know about those bells but to sound like church bells generally there would only be one strike for "Oran" and "say the" (the pitch of the second quaver in the melody sounds best to me). When you hear good bellringers producing a call and response effect there is a often a
very subtle break in the rhythm between 'verses'. But no rests, I think.