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<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Jim H certainly opened a topic when writin=
g about=20
Poona - aka Pune - a while back. The records show that everything was despa=
tched=20
with full instructions as to how to assemble the installation; from photogr=
aphs=20
I have seen, all seems to be there. A little bit gratuitous, maybe, to=
=20
suggest that "Taylor's can be excused": after all, if the customer wants to=
pay=20
for a daft installation for his/her own delectation, the contractor can eit=
her=20
accede to the request making known any reservations, or ask to be excused=20
carrying out the contract.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Now Star Street, with which I had an invol=
vement in=20
the summer of 1966. Indeed, I was down in the ruins when CD was pulli=
ng up=20
one of the bells (on a St Dunstan-in-the-East rope!). One could see t=
he=20
tower itself moving; it was surmounted by a gabled slate spire which in tur=
n=20
carried a large metal cross whcih was swaying about alarmingly. I thi=
nk=20
only one bell was actually raised and set, and there is a fine picture of i=
t=20
which CD took. The tower stood in an angle formed by the chancel and =
the=20
north aisle, by whose roofs it was substantially buttressed; so much so tha=
t far=20
from being "that absurdity which contravened every tenet of bellhanging" (R=
HD)=20
it put up with a local band, and regular visits up to the '30's, amongst wh=
ich=20
were four successful peal bands: </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>16.1.1875, Grandsire Triples</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>14.2.1903, Double Norwich</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>16.2.1905, Superlative (bet that shook it=
=20
around!)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>13.11.1913, Stedman Triples (following min=
imal=20
rehanging).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>As the church stood in 1966, the north ais=
le, nave=20
and chancel were roofless, and much of the stiffness which the roofs had=20
afforded was compromised. The south chapel roof had fallen in, and onl=
y=20
the south nave aisle was roofed. The tower had been virtuall=
y=20
intact, and its massive projecting drum clock (with hour and quarters) was =
kept=20
going until it received the attention of some kids about 10 years before.=20
Taylors had fitted a replacement Ellacombe apparatus in 1933. This was used=
to=20
chime for services in the sealed-off south aisle prior to the collapse of t=
he=20
chapel roof. Despite all this, the pews still stood in the roofless nave, a=
nd in=20
the east window was some fantastic stained glass by Meyer, of Munich, which=
the=20
demolition people destroyed. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Chris has adequately summarised the bells=
=20
themselves. The aforementioned kids had set light to the floor of the clock=
room=20
(the ringing room ceiling);part had burned away and damaged the floor of th=
e=20
ringing room and also the floor beneath the bells. The only light in =
the=20
ringing room was from a slit window in the rather bold projecting newel sta=
ir=20
vice on the east side. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Then Southfleet. There is nothing wr=
ong with=20
this medieval and typical "Kent" type tower which can't be put right. =
As=20
Dickon has quoted, the problem is with the bells, ior rather their frame (1=
7th=20
& 18thC, originally on two levels, and hacked about by Goslin Jr to get=
them=20
in on one), and the fittings, many of them re-used. The only satisfactory t=
hing=20
is that the two cracked bells of the six were welded by Barimar. They are a=
n old=20
4, augmented to six in 1705 and thus: 1 & 4 R Phelps 1705; 2 T Mears 17=
94; 3=20
W Carter 1610; 5 ?W Wodewarde c1435; tenor R Phelps 1736.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Someone asked, which tower had collapsed w=
hile the=20
ringers were outside ? The answer given was "Oxburgh", Norfolk. =
I=20
think that this must refer to Oxborough, but the ringers were not outside!&=
nbsp;=20
The bells were rung on April 10th, 1948 after at least 25 years' silence an=
d=20
little or no work done to them. The lofty stone spire collapsed into the to=
wer=20
and brought it down on to the Nave at 10 a.m. on 28th April. Accordin=
g to=20
the Rector, after the hot summer and cold winter of 1947 the already shaky =
tower=20
no longer had the strength to stand up and literally "sat down". The =
bells=20
had been rehung and augmented to 6 by Warners (who recast the third and ten=
or)=20
in 1867; the others were 2, ?William Brend, 1610; 4, Stephen Tonne, 1582; 5=
,=20
William Dobson 1808. Tenor 11-0-4. The 4th was smashed in the collapse and=
was=20
recast by M&S, the two trebles being scrapped. It had been intended to =
hang=20
them for chiming on a frame at ground level, but money ran out and they wer=
e=20
scrapped, and replaced by a 14" bell. The church now consists of north aisl=
e=20
(open to the elements), south chapel and chancel. The tip of the spir=
e,=20
and finial cross, which stayed upright to the last, are preserved in the no=
rth=20
aisle.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>The other Norfolk collapses over the last =
hundred=20
or so years have been:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>1898: Feltwell St Nicholas, round tower. 5=
bells.=20
Tenor now at Gabalfa, Cardiff, 4th in Ely Cathedral nave and front three=20
scrapped c.1965. Church now CCT</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>1906: Burlingham St Peter, round tower. 3 =
bells.=20
Were displayed in St Peter Hungate Church Museum, Norwich, 1936-2002, now =
in=20
store. Ruined church now sold.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>1913: Norwich SS Simon & Jude, 1 bell =
formerly=20
5 (sold 1881, the tenor is now at St Nicholas, Beverley: anyone seen it ?).=
=20
Church now again redundant.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>1947: Tivetshall St Mary, 4 bells, formerl=
y 5,=20
previously 6. The tenor is now in Sri Lanka, the other four were scrapped.=
=20
Ruined church now with Trust.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>1959: Morton-on-the-Hill, lofty round towe=
r, 3=20
bells which were rescued, and with an existing bell recast by JT&Co are=
now=20
a chime of 4 at Attlebridge. Morton Church also now restored and in the han=
ds of=20
NHCT so a happy ending.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>1971: Wighton, 1 bell formerly 4. Another =
happy=20
ending. The tower was rebuilt and now houses the 5 ex-St Paul, Maidstone, b=
ells=20
with the old bell recast as treble to make 6.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>1990: Cockley Cley, round tower. 1 bell, n=
o further=20
details.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Jim H came back re some other London tower=
s, some=20
as cramped as Star Street.St Barnabas, Pimlico is not so cramped, indeed it=
is a=20
spacious and once pleasant tower. As far as I know the last time the bells =
were=20
rung was on St Barnabas Day 1965, the reason for ringing not being allowed =
being=20
that they were so loud outside. The bells then were much as installed in=20
1849. There were ten peals between 1851 and 1902, and the last regula=
r=20
ringing was said to have been in 1919.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Finally, there was a query about Murphy=20
bells. The set exhibited at the Great Exhibition were put up at King'=
s=20
Cross Station, where Ranald inspected them. They were subsequently sold as =
scrap=20
to Mears & Stainbank who I believe had such trouble in breaking them th=
at=20
they resorted to borrowing acetylene torches from Buck & Hickman next d=
oor=20
to cut them up.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>DLC</FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>