[Bell Historians] Charlton Adam, Somerset

[Peter Humphreys]

Sorry to come in a bit late on this - I prefer to leave items on this list
unread for a while and then read through all the responses. In this way I
get a better understanding of the subject discussed. I am not an engineer
nor an architect so do not understand much of the technical detail.

I have a somewhat simplistic approach to preservation of church bells. They
are musical instruments created to generate musical sounds of a unique
nature which are very much part of our heritage. All else should be
secondary to this.

The people genuinely interested is SEEING what is being preserved are
enthusiasts such as members on this list :-). For the vast majority - the
public and, I suspect, most ringers - interest is confined to the SOUND of
bells.

I would not know how the numbers of 'listeners' compares with the number of
'viewers' but it must be many orders of magnitude.

So let us support preservation projects where they facilitate the sound of
the bells being heard. Any preservation which does not give this guarantee
should be strongly challenged. 

Peter Humphreys



-----Original Message-----
From: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com [mailto:bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of David Bryant
Sent: 10 February 2007 12:17
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Bell Historians] Charlton Adam, Somerset

The bells at Charlton Adam in Somerset (a long-unringable five) are
apparently to undergo a 'conservation' restoration, involving the retention
of most of the original fittings. The work is being carried out under the
instructions of architects Beech Tyldesley, and it says on their website:

"The tower retains a rare and remarkably complete bellframe of two tiers
with five bells dating back to the late 1400's. Sadly the bells fell into
disuse and have not been rung since the 1920's. With considerable effort
from a great many sources, and with the support of English Heritage, the
Council for the Care of Churches, the SPAB and the local DAC the frame is to
be restored and the bells re-fitted for full circle ringing.

A major project to restore the C16 bell frame and peel of five bells. The
project involves repair and recovering of the tower roof, repair of the
timber bell frame, refurbishment of the bells retaining wooden headstocks
and original fittings, and installation of a new ringing gallery within the
tower base, following the addition of a clock in the earlier ringing chamber
in 1922."

The bells, I believe, are 18th and 19th century and do not date back "to the
late 1400s".

I am told that a number of contractors declined to quote for the work as
they were unhappy about the idea of reusing the original fittings.

Let's hope this doesn't turn into another Staunton Harold.

David



 
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