Stockport St George

[Bill Hibbert]

Some facts on these: they were installed in 1896 (I rang in the 
centenary peal on 14/12/1996). They were definitely not removed from 
the tower or retuned when rehung twenty or thirty years ago. The 
timber frame is above the tower roof at the base of the spire, and 
WBF were glad that they hadn't had to get them out, it would have 
meant dismantling part of the frame. One of the bells (I think the 
9th) had been rehung on ball-bearings quite a while ago, in the 
recent rehang they were all done together.

Subsequent to the rehang, a lightweight roof was built above the 
bells to keep the weather off. Previously, when left up, they used to 
fill with rain or snow in bad weather. Whether this changed the sound 
of the bells I am unsure.

To analyse is to destroy: I used to think these were smashing bells 
to listen to, especially from the road outside. When I recorded and 
analysed them recently they turned out, from a tuning perspective, to 
be a bit of a rough old lot.

Bill H