Our church bells have gone – but only temporarily! 

All eight bells, with a total weight of just over 2.5 tons, were removed from the belfry in August and taken to Taylor’s Bell Foundry for renovation. Among other things, the six oldest bells will be fitted with new cast iron headstocks – an improvement on the wooden ones which were starting to crack.

Removing the bells was a big operation involving the installation of lifting gear in the belfry, which included inserting steel rods into the old timber beams, and then lowering each bell through two trap doors to ground level, 40 feet below. One of the bells was so large that it couldn’t get through the door of the ringing chamber and some of the door frame had to be shaved off. When all the bells had been lowered to the ground floor, they were hoisted onto a trolley and wheeled outside to a waiting haulage vehicle.

Our local ringers were able to assist the bell handler with all of this work, which not only reduced labour costs but proved to be a once in a lifetime experience for some of us.  

As you can imagine, this specialist work doesn’t come cheap.  The whole project is costing around £50,000 and if you would like to make a donation, please contact our churchwarden and bell ringer Rachel Barclay Smith on rbarclaysmith@gmail.com. Some of our bells date back to 1638 so it is important to preserve them and ensure they will continue to be rung into the C21st and beyond.