[Bell Historians] Southfleet

[LOVE, Dickon]

I am aware of only one occasion when a band tried to ring Southfleet bells
(in 1992).

They were a badly going 6 which were rehung by Samuel Goslin in 1930. During
the dedication ringing, it was clear that they were dangerous, and following
several inspections, were deemed unringable, therefore they have not been
rung since 1930 (apart from the above known exception). There is no-one
living who otherwise claims to have rung there, including Ted Barnett.
Southfleet *has* been visited several times by bell enthusiasts (since 1992)
and the KCACR BRF squad for inspections ... ALL have come away with the view
that they are unsafe, and they never actually dared try to ring the bells.
So it is not a question of church architect, etc, but DAC Bell
Advisors/ringing experts/local association.

Sounds like you were lucky not to cause more damage ... however, I'll
contact you off list for more details. If you did manage to ring them,
perhaps there is some remedial work that can be done to make them safe.

DrL



-----Original Message-----
From: John Paul Adams [mailto:J.Adams at u...]
Sent: 24 April 2002 17:34
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Bell Historians] Anti-clockwise rings


>> Er - John, when did you ring at Southfleet? They have been condemned as
>> unringable since 1930 (the year that Samuel Goslin rehung them!). Have
you
>> been a naughty boy? I must admit that I haven't visited the derelict
belfry,
>> so cannot comment on whether they are anticlockwise or not. (Northfleet
>> nearby is.)

They were not that bad, and I've certainly rung on a lot worse. I wonder
how many other rings have gone negelected because A.N.Other said they were
past it, and nobody has been there since to look? Doesn't this happen often
enough with church architects condeming the structure of a tower, only for
the successor architect to then say it was perfectly OK in the first
place?

John


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