[Bell Historians] Re: Bells Stolen - Merton, Devon

[David Bryant]

"You can't beat an open advert to every thief in the country, proclaiming
how valuable bell metal is can you!"

Yes, quite. It does pose the question, though, whether this was an
opportunist thief looking for any scrap, or someone who knew the bells were
there and what they were worth - from the description of the theft, it
sounds rather like the latter.

If anyone knows of any churches near to them with old bells on the floor at
ground level perhaps it might be a good idea to suggest moving them up into
the tower or offering them on loan to a local museum - with the value of
copper as it is at the moment, we could well see an increase in bell thefts
as happened several decades ago when the scrap value was high.

David