[Bell Historians] St. Barnabas Pimlico

Thu Dec 27 23:48:43 GMT 2007

I wish you had contacted me before your visit Jim. I could have shown you
around the stunning church.

 The school wouldn't have been able to let you into the church. 

The clergy house was converted into flats and houses by the diocese during
the last interregnum. The parish receiving nothing from the sale of this
great asset. Its what is called asset stripping. The vicar is shared with St
Mary Bourne Street, where he lives. The first married vicar of St Mary's.

As Doves Guide says, the bells were allowed to full into dereliction in as
much as three of the wheels were damaged by workman rendering the steeple in
the 1970's. Six of the bells have missing shrouding. Only the treble has a
sound wheel. The plain bearings are full of render. 

It is my intention to have the wheels repaired. This would allow some
limited ringing until the money can be raised for a re-hanging. I say
limited, as the bells do not have conventional stays and sliders. And we
have been warned that the present set up (a picture of which can be seen on
Loves Guide) has no safety margin. And if a bell is over pulled it could
result in a bell out of the frame, a broken headstock or even a bell
breaking at the cannons.

In the meantime I chime the bells for at least one service a month. This by
means of an Ellecombe frame in the ringing room. Unfortunately there are no
Ellecombe hammers. Pulleys were put in in the 1920/30s which allow the
clappers to be used as hammers. This on the back eight. There are no pulleys
on the front two. And anyway the treble is the service bell, which is swung
chimed from the floor of the church.

The congregation and clergy are very pleased to hear their bells rung.

The steeple was demolished and rebuilt. The original steeple being
dangerous. It was only the fact that the church is grade one that saved the
building from demolition. Most of the rebuilding work was paid under grant
form the state.

Jim mentioned sound control. Well, the bells are quite a long way up the
louvers. And the chiming of the back eight is about the same volume as most
bells being rung full circle. My intention is to make the first full circle
ringing of the bells a kind of public rejoicing occasion. With the Bishop,
press et al. For this I want the bells to be very loud. Then, when we put
sound control in, the populace will hear the difference in volume. I know
from long experience, that fixed sound control can lead to the general
public assuming that the bells are as loud as they can be. 

If anyone coming to London would like to see the bells, just drop me an
email.

Alan

  _____  

From: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com [mailto:bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of jimhedgcock
Sent: 26 December 2007 23:07
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Bell Historians] St. Barnabas Pimlico

On a recent visit to London I took the opportunity to walk to Pimlico. 
The church has obviously had a vast amount of money spent on it and is 
now shining white with cleaned and replaced stone. The slate louvres 
also look brand new. Unfortunately the exterior gate was locked and I 
was unable to gain access to the interior or the vicarage. The school 
was open but I deemed it to be intrusive to try to gain access to the 
church by trying to attract attention there. I am told that the church 
interior is amongst the most ornate in London.
I remember Alan Taylor indicating that there might be some bell 
activity there once the restoration of the church was completed. If 
this is the case, has any bell related work been considered?
Judging by the proximity of the neighbouring commercial and domestic 
buildings a very efficient sound control system would be mandatory.
The exterior of the adjacent church buildings has not benefitted from 
any contemporary restoration.

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