Deafhill bells

[khsbelring at a...]

I am not surprised that there is difficulty in finding out about this 
church. Here is the history -
Deafhill in county Durham, which is situated in the "sticks" half way 
between Durham & Hartlepool as the crow flies, was only one farm house until the 
pit opened about 1880. It grew to about 90 houses and the church was called 
St.Cuthbert's Deafhill-cum-Langdale. There were many villages that did not exist 
before the opening of a pit in the South Durham Coalfield and the villages 
that sprung up to service the individual pits were often very close together. 
Such is the march of time that the villages of Deafhill & Langdale 
effectively have been swallowed up by the enlarged village of Trimdon Station. ( 
although I am quite sure that those who live in the area still consider themslves 
to be Deafhill and Langdale and not part of Trimdon Station conurbation ).
Enough of history and back to bells. I have not as yet been able to gain 
access to the bells as scaffolding is required but am expecting that I shall be 
able to inspect them later this year when some work is being carried out.
As I currently understand the situation there are five bells in the turret 
and pinacle astride the roof gable. One bell belongs to the church and is 
probably of 1884 vintage when the church was erected. This is chimed with a 
hammer. The other four bells were installed after WW2 as a war memorial and are 
the property of the community. There is a clock to go with the bells but as yet 
I can't tell you what it chimes as it has been some considerable time since 
it worked. This is shortly to be attended to and it will be then that I will 
be able to have a look - Howard E. J. Smith , Durham Diocese bell 
maintainence advisor.
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