[Bell Historians] Bell frame for sale (of no practical use)

[Brian Meldon]

But Roderic the old bells in our tower are not unloved any more. 
Many people in our village including myself would be very sad (and
some very angry) to see the old bells removed from where they were
intended to be and where they have been for hundreds of years. 
They are as much a part of our local heritage as the church. The tenor
for example, when new in 1707 was upturned outside one of our pubs and
filled with ale for the villagers.
We are having the three cracked bells repaired and they will not be
`useless' because as I said all 5 will have a chiming mechanism
fitted. The frame is believed to date from the construction of the
tower in the early c15; we even have the original pulleys (windlasses)
that lifted the bells and the upper stone blocks up the the tower when
it was built still in place. In fact the newest items in the ringing
chamber are the bells. Removing the bells would be like removing the
engine from a classic car in a museum to use in an other that is still
used on the road or cutting the Mona Lisa's face out of the painting
because that's the part that everyone looks at. As we have the
opportunity, space and the finance to keep our historic ring in place
why should we not do this? 
As you know in the past the scraping of historic or unused bells was
seen as a legitimate way of funding new ones or razing church funds,
thankfully this has changed in recent years and old bells are reused
and the scraping of bells is generally frowned upon. Maybe as time
passes the practice of leaving historic bell frames without their
bells, often in inappropriate locations will be regarded in the same
way. I am sure that there are many on this group that think this way
already. 
Yes the old bells will require maintenance, but so does any historic
artefact. Our old bells had no maintenance for 100 years and they are
much the same now as they were when ringing stopped in 1901. 
I am sorry that you think of us as 'selfish' but would it not be just
as selfish to destroy a part of our local heritage by having the old
bells removed and used elsewhere?
Only in many years to come can the merits of what we are doing be
fairly judged. 
I see you work in Basildon, if you were at the Essex Association
Southern district meeting at Great Wakering last Saturday you could
have spoken to me about this in person and perhaps some of the passion
that I feel for our bell project, something I have been waiting for
all my life, would have been obvious to you and your opinion of what
we are doing may have been changed. 

Brian Meldon 

> 
> True but why would one want to leave an old useless ring in place, which
> will still need maintaining in safe order.
> Surly it is deeply selfish to hang on to bells that won't be used when
> they could be transferred, and possibly the frame as well, if reasonable
> to provide the basis of a ring else where.
> Projects like Milton result in outcomes like Hackthorn.
> There is a substantial requirement for rings that are more affordable
> than an all new installation, and many recent jobs, Hackhtorn included,
> show that bells unlovable in one tower can form an excellent ring, or
> part of an excellent ring else ware. 
> 
> 
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